Mohave Community College Men’s Soccer remains undefeated at Firebird Field

MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave Community College Men’s Soccer remains undefeated in Bullhead City following Saturday night’s 2-1 win over the College of Southern Nevada. The victory over CSN also means the Bighorns are 1-0 in conference play in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC).

“For our fans and our team, and our recruits watching, this is what the ACCAC is: this is how conference play is,” says Men’s Head Coach Camilo Valencia. “We proved that we belong in the conference and that we can get wins here, and that this program is going to be strong for years to come. This is a great homefield advantage, we’re undefeated at home and we’re going to keep it that way.”

Goals for the Bighorns came from Nolan Garcia off an assist from Erik Nava in minute 28 and Luis Mario Medina, penalty kick, at the forty-fifth minute.

However, celebrations after Saturday’s win were tainted because of an alleged incident that occurred on the field toward the end of the contest. Men’s Head Coach and Athletic Director Camilo Valencia received a red card from the referee as the former made efforts to address the use of inappropriate language in Spanish by a CSN player, directed at a Bighorn.

“It was a very tough game with some unfortunate injuries and some unfortunate situations that have no place in the game, with referees that don’t handle it the right way,” Valencia says. “At the end of the day, the win is the least important thing when those things happen. We’re disappointed about some of those things, we’re disappointed that these things are happening in such a strong conference.”

Next on the schedule for Mohave Community College Men’s Soccer is an away, in-conference game at Community Christian College, set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14.

“We’ll regroup and get our guys back to where they need to be mentally and physically, and we’ll make sure our injured player and our player who was intimidated in an unacceptable manner feel our love,” Valencia says. “We’re a strong family.”

Mohave Community College Women’s Soccer lost 6-2 to CSN on Saturday, with both goals coming from Magaly Guzman-Lopez. Guzman-Lopez now has three goals in as many games. Additionally, three of CSN’s goals came from penalty kicks. The Bighorns will be back in action at Firebird Field at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10 as they host Cochise College.

“I loved how our team has responded as far as how we’ve grown through the season so far,” says Women’s Head Coach Robert Podeyn. “I thought this was our best performance yet with respect to playing with intensity, and being more aggressive and physical. The important thing to understand is we have 26 freshmen. A team like CSN, two-thirds of their team already has a year of college experience.”

Podeyn said his squad’s performance over the weekend went a long way in developing character, and helped his players to further grow and learn at the collegiate level.

“We’re going to continue to stay the course,” Podeyn says. “We’ll focus on playing the game with intensity and being aggressive, connecting our passes, looking at options and trying to play quicker. I appreciate all the fans coming out to support us. Keep coming out and supporting us and we’ll reward you with hard work and intensity.”

Be sure to check out video of the post-game interviews with both coaches, and stay up to date with Mohave Community College Men’s and Women’s Soccer, at athletics.mohave.edu.