PRESCOTT, Ariz. – In an intense battle on Tuesday night at Ken Lindley Field, the Yavapai College women's soccer team prevailed with a 4-2 victory over the Paradise Valley Community College Pumas to push its win streak to five games, conference record to 5-0 and overall record to 6-4.
"It was a great battle tonight," Head Coach Rozie DeWeese said. "Being down 2-1 and continuing to play with an aggressive attacking mentality and with confidence was fun to watch. Our team played well and the energy was high everywhere. Hanna's hat trick was also big time tonight!
"I also loved the youth players cheering us on from the stands. We love the community support and it definitely played a positive part in our success tonight."
A thriller from start to finish, the first big play of the match came from the Roughriders as sophomore forward Hanna Urtado fought through a couple of Puma defenders before shooting the ball past the PVCC goalkeeper to the far side for her fourth score of the season while giving YC a 1-0 lead.
Momentum then began to wear a Paradise Valley jersey as the Pumas tallied the next two goals and led 2-1 with 15 minutes to go in the first half. Despite a plethora of scoring opportunities throughout the rest of the half, including a header off the crossbar, the Roughriders went into halftime trailing 2-1.
Coming out of the break, YC continued its aggressive play, pushing the ball relentlessly up the field while looking for scoring opportunities. The strategy paid off immediately as sophomore forward (and reigning ACCAC Player of the Week) AJ Jones tied the match up with just over two minutes played in the second half.
On a rush, Jones received a pass from freshman forward Julie Reyes and then placed a perfect shot to the upper-left corner of the goal to beat the PVCC keeper and tie the match at 2-2.
Now tied at 2-2, the Roughriders needed some elite goalkeeping to keep the Puma offense at bay and they received just that from reigning ACCAC Goalkeeper of the Week Morgan Trail.
With just over 30 minutes left in the match after end-to-end action, Trail faced a breakaway attempt from PVCC and made a nice leaping save to preserve the 2-2 tie.
With time dwindling down, the Roughriders sensed their opportunity to complete the comeback and began to take control of the possession and finally broke through with 11 minutes to go.
After a throw-in, Jones touched a ball over to Urtado who almost repeated her first goal of the night as she beat a couple of defenders and beat the PVCC goalkeeper to her far side, giving the Roughriders a 3-2 lead and sending the Ken Lindley crowd into a frenzy with her second goal of the night and fifth goal of the season.
With the lead, the Roughriders once again turned to Trail as she made an incredible diving save to her right just 10 seconds after the go-ahead goal. With under 10 minutes left in the match, Trail made another highlight-reel save on a breakaway with a full-extension dive to her right to maintain the one-goal lead.
With the lead and Trail completely locked in, Urtado added some final fireworks to the night with four minutes left to play as she completed the hat trick with her third goal of the night after Jones got the ball to her from a corner kick. Urtado corralled the ball, made a move and found the back of the net to put the dagger in the contest and bring the match to its final of 4-2.
For Urtado, she now leads the team in goals with six after tonight's hat trick. Jones also tallied four points on the night with a goal and two assists and Trail finished the night with a victory in goal and six saves.
Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Saturday, October 1, in Prescott Valley, Arizona, at Mountain Valley Park where they will take on the GateWay Community College Geckos with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
