MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave Community College Men’s and Women’s Soccer hosted Yavapai College on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at Bullhead City’s Firebird field, with both squads seeing 90 minutes of nail-biting Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) action. Men’s Soccer has yet to be defeated at home, beating Yavapai 1-0 while Women’s Soccer fought the Roughriders to a 1-1 draw in what Head Coach Robert Podeyn called their best performance yet.
Men’s Head Coach Camilo Valencia called his squad’s performance on Tuesday “fantastic,” noting that Yavapai College is a program with a lot of history, including national championships.
“Being a first-year program, people always overlook you,” he says. “I don’t think they did that, they came prepared, but our guys know that work rate is going to win games for us, and we outworked them at every second of the game.
“We told them before the game that it was a big game and that we needed big players to play in big games. They were giants today. At all times we had 11 warriors, 11 giants playing for Mohave. That’s why we recruited them, that’s what we saw in them and they reached that level today.”
Luis Mario Medina knocked back the winning goal for the Bighorns Tuesday night, assisted by Jorge Quintero. Valencia says every Bighorn who stepped on the field gave their all, a requirement for not only Tuesday’s win, but for success within the conference as a whole. Mohave Community College Men’s Soccer is currently undefeated in conference play at 3-0, 4-2 overall and undefeated at Firebird Field.
“Next is Eastern Arizona, away, so that’s going to be another tough match,” Valencia says. “We’re just trying to keep our streak going to stay at the top of the league, as fighting for those playoff spots is going to be important.”
Mohave Community College Women’s Soccer also battled it out with Yavapai College Tuesday night following the first-ever program win, 18-1, over Community Christian College on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Bighorns and the Roughriders fought to a 1-1 draw, with no break in the action until the final buzzer sounded.
“I think this was our best performance so far this season,” Podeyn says. “I think the game that we played against Community Christian, where we got our first win in program history and won 18-1, I think that was a game the ladies needed. It helped us in this game here because this was hard-fought.”
Podeyn says Yavapai College is always a strong program, also noting the Roughriders’ championship history.
“Yavapai College just came off a game beating the College of Southern Nevada 2-0, our rival from Las Vegas,” he says. “So, to come out here and to be leading most of the game, even though we let them back in and drew 1-1, I think we created more quality chances. It was a hard, gritty-fought battle and I’m really proud of the ladies for how they performed.”
Podeyn says his whole squad stepped up to the challenge and did a great job Tuesday night. Magaly Guzman-Lopez put the Bighorns on the board Tuesday night, marking her tenth goal of the season, with teammate Genesis Guereca getting credit for the assist.
“Now we enter the toughest part of our schedule,” Podeyn says. “We have three nationally-ranked teams on the schedule starting Saturday with Eastern Arizona, and then Tuesday we play Phoenix College and the following Saturday we play against Arizona Western. All three will be nationally-ranked, Top 25 teams, and all three are going to be quality opponents.”
Both Bighorn teams will be back in action, on the road, against Eastern Arizona on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Stay up to date with Mohave Community College Men’s and Women’s Soccer, and make sure to watch post-game interviews with both coaches, at athletics.mohave.edu and Instagram.com.
Bighorns Sophomore Luis Mario Medina celebrating with Coach Camilo Valencia and team after scoring the winning goal against the Yavapai Roughriders in a thrilling 1-0 conference win.
Bighorns Freshman Forward Magaly Guzman-Lopez driving to score for the Mohave Bighorns against the Yavapai Roughriders in an exciting 1-1 conference tie.