Region 16 soccer matches are not for the weak and on Tuesday afternoon a battle between two of the top teams in the Region proved that as St. Louis Community College outlasted East Central College 5-3 on the Flo Valley campus. Earlier in the day, the Archers earned the top spot in the NJCAA rankings, but East Central was not intimidated, as they took a 1-0 lead into halftime, on a Ralph Joseph goal in the tenth minute. The Falcons did what nobody has done all season, as they limited STLCC to a season low two shots in the first half and kept the Archers off the board.
The second half was full of back and forth action, as the Archers finally got on the board in the fifty-fifth minute when Conor McArthur found the back of the net off an assist from Noah Vezzu. Chris Eduardo then connected on back to back penalty kicks within a minute of each other to give the Archers a 3-1 lead, all three goals were scored within a three minute span. Connor Walters gave STLCC some breathing room in the sixty-seventh minute as he scored his ninth goal of the season on a Mattias Tonking assist. East Central would not go away, as Joseph scored again just eleven seconds later and Magnus Andersen followed that goal forty-one seconds later with a goal of his own, when he hammered a shot home from outside the box to tighten things up at 4-3. The Archers put the match away, when Tonking was left alone in front of the net and followed up an Eduardo shot to give STLCC a 5-3 lead.
St. Louis Community College improves to 13-0-0 on the season and does not return to action until October 5th, when they return to the Flo Valley campus for a women's and men's doubleheader with MCC-Maplewoods.