Tigers demolish top-seeded Falcons 5-1 at national tourney

One day after netting a hat-trick in the eighth-seeded Cowley College men's soccer team's opening win at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Melbourne, FL, sophomore forward Caique Trivelato scored two more goals in the first half of the Tigers' 5-1 win over top-seeded Daytona State on Tuesday.

With the victory, Cowley (15-4) advances out of Pool A and moves on to play in the semifinals Thursday at 4 p.m. CST. The semifinal appearance is the first-ever for the Tiger soccer program.

Following the two first-half goals by Trivelato, freshman Mate Kenyeres fired a beautiful shot into the top corner of the net to increase the Tigers' lead to 3-0 with just under 27 minutes remaining. Yuki Sekiguchi assisted on Kenyeres' goal.

Less than two minutes later, sophomore Hideto Gondo headed in a crossing pass from Shunnosuke Nakajima to make the score 4-0.

Cowley was not done there as with just over 15 minutes left, the Tigers' Anthony Pereira scored the team's fifth goal off an assist from Gabriel Reis.

The Falcons would avoid the shutout when Christian Cordeiro scored with a little more than two minutes remaining. Daytona State finishes the season with a record of 15-3-1.

Cowley has won five games in a row, and excluding the games they had to forfeit, the Tigers' lone defeat came back on September 14.

Thursday's semifinal game will be streamed at portal.stretchinternet.com/njcaa. There is a fee to watch the streaming.