Lake Tahoe Community College men knock off higher seeded Folsom Lake

Bill Rozak / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Lake Tahoe Community College survived overtime Tuesday and advanced in the California Community College Athletic Association Men’s Soccer Regional Championships.
The No. 13 Coyotes (13-7-2) knocked off No. 4 Folsom Lake by winning the penalty kick battle in overtime. They will play a quarterfinal match Saturday at No. 12 Skyline (12-5-2) who eliminated No. 5 Delta, 1-0.
“The guys didn’t stop fighting,” said Coyotes head coach Nicholas Arbelaez. “I felt we had the run of play most of the game, we had a few chances, hit the post and missed a couple of others, but the guys played well and the win was well-deserved.”
Folsom put Tahoe behind the 8-ball early with their lone goal in the eighth minute.
The 1-0 score lasted through halftime before the Coyotes equalized late in the game.
Jose Estrada took a free kick just outside the penalty box and connected with Guillermo Perez who headed it home with about 18 minutes left in regulation.
“It gave us life, we almost had another one 30 seconds later and hit the post,” Arbelaez said. “Joel Garcia hit the post. But it was a great college playoff game, fun to watch.”
Fun to watch until the penalty kicks of course — then it’s nail-biting time.
Arbelaez was so nervous he had a hard time deciding on who would take the PKs.
“Our trainer (Jeremy Vandehurst) actually chose the five,” Arbelaez said.
While the Coyotes put in enough goals to win, it was Perez who stole the show during the shootout.
Perez was placed in goal and made three saves.
“Those three saves were all shots on frame,” Arbelaez said.
The Coyotes will hit the road again this weekend and take on another upstart team in Skyline, which helped obliterate the higher seeds in their side of the bracket.
Kickoff is at 2 p.m. against Skyline.
“It’s always tough to win on the road, especially when you’re playing a higher seed, but all numbers go out the door at that point, we just proved that,” Arbelaez said. “Nobody cares what you did in the regular season, just whether you can do it in the postseason.”

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