Raiders Are Back To Back Region II Tournament Winners!
In the Final, the Raiders were to face Northern Oklahoma College. The Raiders split the regular season games with a win and a loss to NOC so they knew they had to come ready to play. Again, the Raiders got off to a quick start scoring just 8 minutes in to the game with a goal by
Justin Croke. As the game went on, both teams were evenly matched. Then with 15 minutes left in the first half, NOC nearly found the back of the net with a long shot that struck the post and bounced right to the Raiders Goalkeeper,
Kevin Valdez.
At the start of the second half, the Raiders lead 1-0. The Raiders came out in the second half knowing they needed another goal to put the game away. The second half went on with both teams evenly match, but NOC caught the Raiders sleeping with a ball over the top to put their forward in one-on-one with the Raiders Goalkeeper. The keeper did all he could but clipped the NOC player as he shot, rewarding NOC with a Penalty in the 68
th minute. NOC capitalized on the opportunity and put the game even at 1-1. This didn't get the Raiders down. The players dug deep and with just 7 minutes to go in the game,
Jusung Kang had a long throw into the box where Dylan Gieb was making a run across his defender. As Dylan cut across the defender he was able to get a touch with his head, scoring the winning goal!
The Raiders were back to back Region II tournament winners! But the accolades did not stop here with the following player winning all tournament awards:
CB:
Aleksa Mitrovic SO. Serbia was MVP of the tournament
GK:
Kevin Valdez FR.
F:
Justin Croke FR.
M:
Adam Conway FR.
