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Men's Soccer Chris Kuchta

TITLE RUN COMPLETE!

From 11-Seed to National Champions, PSC Men’s Soccer Claims First National Title in School History

TUCSON, Ariz. --- Hard-working, team-oriented, blue-collared, resilient and with maybe just a touch of a chip on its shoulder.
 
In many ways, the Prairie State men's soccer team is a mirror image of the town in which its school resides.
 
Chicago Heights is also a proud community and Saturday night those who live there could brim with pride over the hometown community college's men's soccer program.
 
Thanks in part to an incredible goal off the foot of freshman defender Josh Matiscik and airtight defense, the Pioneers downed longtime foe Morton College, 1-0 in the NJCAA Men's Soccer Final.
 
The national championship represents PSC's first in school history, in any sport.
 
PSC closes out the campaign with an overall record of 17-4.
 
Saturday's title match puts the finishing touches on an amazing tournament run by PSC.  Entering the national championships as an at-large 11-seed, the Pioneers took down No. 2 seed Jones College, top seed Phoenix College and the fourth-seeded Panthers.
 
The championship bout also represented the third time this year that Prairie State had faced Morton.  The Panthers bested PSC by a goal on both former occasions, with the most recent coming in the Region IV championship match.
 
Both clubs picked their spots to attack in the opening half and went into the intermission scoreless.
 
Matiscik's marker came after a PSC red card had given Morton a man advantage in the 67th minute.
 
The 6-foot Matiscik was upended and tumbled to the turf in the 74th , losing the ball.  An alert Matiscik jumped to his feet, outrunning a Morton defender as the keeper strayed too far out and chipped in the would be game-winner.
 
As he had been all tournament long,  PSC freshman goal keeper Igor Mrvalgevic stood tall once again, turning away seven shots.
 
The Pioneers return home Sunday.  Fans are encouraged to meet in parking Lot E on the Prairie State campus to welcome the team home at 3:30 p.m..
 
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Players Mentioned

Igor Mrvaljevic

#1 Igor Mrvaljevic

GK
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Igor Mrvaljevic

#1 Igor Mrvaljevic

Freshman
GK

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