Men’s soccer game recaps Oct. 3, 6, and 8

Oct. 3, Jefferson College at Sedalia

The Roadrunners defeated the Jefferson College Vikings from Hillsboro, 3-1, in an important Region 16 and Missouri Community College Athletic Conference match.

The opening half featured a lot of back and forth action. Jefferson scored first off a rebound with 27 minutes remaining in the opening half. SFCC struck back with a goal from freshman midfielderVasbert Ledger off a pass from freshman forward Lesia Thetsane with about 24 minutes and 30 seconds remaining. The match was tied at one at halftime.

Ledger made a nice run into the 18-yard box when he was fouled from behind. Sophomore midfielder Logan Horn drilled the resulting penalty kick into the corner of the net to put the Roadrunners ahead 2-1 with about 21 minutes remaining. Ledger put the game away with his second goal; he took a long pass from freshman goalkeeper Landon Dove with less than 10 minutes left in the match.

"We finally put two halves together," said Head Coach Jaime Beltran. "We played well offensively and defensively, the way we've been practicing. We were able to get a complete effort from the entire team for 90 minutes. When we do that, we can be a force."

Ledger led with four shots on goal in the game. Sophomore forward Mako Makoanyane registered two. Dove made 10 saves.

"I'm really glad we were able to get back on the winning side in the region," said Beltran. "Hopefully, we can start building some momentum and go into the end of the season the right way."

Oct. 6, East Central College at Sedalia

The Roadrunners played host to the East Central College Falcons from Union, Missouri, in an important Region 16 and Missouri Community College Athletic Conference match. The match ended in a 3-3 tie.

SFCC scored first with less than 22 minutes remaining in the opening half. Freshman forward Lesia Thetsane took the ball almost the entire length of the field and was able to cross it and find sophomore forward Mako Makoanyane.

The Falcons tied the game with a minute and 20 seconds on the clock in the first half. East Central opened the second half with a goal to make the score 2-1 with about 35 minutes remaining.

Makoanyane tied the game at two with his second goal. He was assisted by Thetsane. Freshman midfielder Vasbert Ledger put his team up 3-2 with about 23 minutes remaining in regulation, courtesy of another assist from Thetsane. It was his third assist of the match.

East Central scored the final goal of the match with two minutes and 59 seconds remaining in regulation. SFCC had an opportunity with about two minutes in regulation; however, the East Central goalkeeper knocked the ball away. The game went into overtime tied at three. Both teams had opportunities in two overtime periods. Freshman goalkeeper Landon Dove recorded 22 saves in the match.

"Our guys put in a lot of effort," said Head Coach Jaime Beltran. "A couple of little mistakes cost us the opportunity to win the game. We will get those mistakes fixed."

Oct. 8, St. Louis Community College at Sedalia

The Roadrunners hosted the number one ranked team in NJCAA Division I Men's Soccer, the St. Louis Community College Archers, in a Region 16 and Missouri Community College Athletic Conference match. The Archers won 4-0.

St. Louis scored all four goals in the first half. The first came with less than 35 minutes remaining. They  added another goal with less than 11 minutes remaining and then two more goals.

"We had a lot of guys banged up today, plus the red card," said Head Coach Jaime Beltran. "We had to play three-quarters of the game with only 10 players on the field. Our guys held up pretty well in the second half. I look forward to a chance to play St. Louis with a full squad."

Sophomore forward Mako Makoanyane, freshman forward Lesia Thetsane and freshman midfielder Turner McGlasson recorded one shot each. Freshman goalkeeper Josh Kunkelmanrecorded seven saves.

Players from the Paul Klover Soccer Association joined the Roadrunners on the field before the game. They also served as ball kids during the match. The Roadrunners record currently stands at 8-7-1, 3-3-1 in Region 16 and 2-1-1 in the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics