By KYLE MCDANIEL
The Aztecs are on to the NJCAA District I Semifinals against Laramie County Community College, and will be playing that game at their home stadium Kino Sports Complex. If they win that game, they will play in the NJCAA District I finals the next night. With a win there, they would be headed to Nationals in Daytona, Florida starting November 12.
Oct 27 NJCAA Region I, Division I Finals vs. Chandler-Gilbert CC 0, PCC 2
Thanks to sophomore Hugo Kametani’s second half brace the Aztecs won their fourth NJCAA Region I, Division I in the last five years. The game was a defensive battle especially in the first half when both teams were committing a lot of fouls.
Helping Pima to another shutout victory was freshman defender Martin Cardenas who was named MVP of the game. Cardenas along with sophomores Kaskile Zawadi, Jacob Pacheco, Daniel Suazo and Jose Irra have been rocks all year for the Aztecs defense, keeping 13 clean sheets for the season so far.
Oct. 25 NJCAA Region I, Division I Semifinals vs. Yavapai College 0, PCC 1
The number one team in the division Pima, beat the number four team to move on to the Region Finals. Freshman Itsuki Ishihara scored after freshman Ricky Gordillo had set him up. The goal was scored with 13 minutes on the clock and turned out to be the winner.
The Roughriders struggled to get anything going in the offensive third, getting only one shot off for the whole game. Freshman goalie Nils Roth helped the defense preserve the shutout after making one save.
Oct. 20 vs. Glendale CC 0, PCC 5
The Aztecs scored four goals in the first half to give the Gauchos no hope at a victory. Hugo Kametani scored two of the five bringing his regular season total to 22. Freshman Edson Vazquez, Javier Vega and Osvaldo Miranda scored the other three.
Pima finished the regular season with a ten game win streak, while only losing two games all season. The win also gave the Aztecs a record breaking regular season as they finished on 54 points. The old record was 50.
What helped get the record breaking point total was the 10-0 home record. “The best regular season in program history,” Coach David Cosgrove said when asked about the season.
Oct. 18 vs. Yavapai College 2, #3 PCC 3
After sophomore Isaias German and freshman Alec Nguyen gave Pima a 2-0 lead sixteen minutes into the game it looked like the Aztecs would cruise to victory. The Roughriders however, had other ideas, when they scored two goals in a three minute span in the second half.
With that the game headed to overtime, where it would be golden goal. Pima’s Javier Vega scored in the 99th minute to seal the victory.
This victory gave the Aztecs back to back ACCAC conference titles. Pima still has one game left in the season, which could help seal the best regular season in history.
Oct. 16 at #15 Phoenix College 0, #3 PCC 1
The Aztecs are up to third in the nation after a key victory over Phoenix College. The game was tightly contested with the Bears out shooting Pima 12 to 3.
However Pima made their three shots count as all three were on target, including the 86th minute match winner from Hugo Kametani, after Isaias German slipped him the ball through the defense.
The goal from Kametani was his 20th on the season, which leads all scorers for the Aztecs.