Two second-half goals lead Roadrunners to victory

The third-seeded State Fair Community College Roadrunners men's soccer team opened their portion of the Region 16 Tournament with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over sixth-seeded East Central College at Smith-Cotton High School on Saturday, Oct. 25.

East Central got on scoreboard first with a goal with less than 23 minutes remaining in the opening half. SFCC had chances the opening half but could not find the equalizer.

The Roadrunners got on the scoreboard with a goal off a free kick from freshman midfielder Malachai Bonney from just outside the 18 -yard box to tie the match with 24 minutes remaining. Bonney scored what proved to be the game-winning goal off of another free kick from the outside the top of the box with about 13 minutes remaining in the match.

"You have to give a lot of credit to East Central," said Roadrunners head coach Michael Poropat. "They were very well coached. They had a very good game plan, and they stuck to it. They had us on the ropes. Malachai Bonney had two special kicks today. I thought we did a good job of keeping the ball today. Postseason soccer is just about getting results."

SFCC was solid defensively to close out the hard-fought victory and advance to the Region 16 Semifinal.

Sophomore goalkeeper Michele Tafani got the start in net for SFCC.

SFCC (4-10-1) will take on Mineral Area College in a Region 16 Semifinal match on Tuesday, Oct. 28 in Park Hills, Mo. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics