Haraikawa’s hat-trick helps hand Angelina College first defeat

The No. 9-seeded Cowley College men's soccer team put a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to fourth-seeded Monroe College in the opening game of the national tournament behind them as they took out some frustration in a 3-1 win over fifth-seed Angelina College Monday at the NJCAA Division I National Championships held at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, KS.

The Tigers were coming off playing 110 plus minutes in a shootout loss against Monroe College on Sunday. While, the Roadrunners were playing their first game at the national tournament and will face Monroe College on Tuesday.

Cowley improves its record to 16-5 on the season. The loss, the first of the season for the Roadrunners, drops Angelina's record to 13-1-2.

On Monday, Cowley got on the board first on a goal by Shogo Haraikawa as he headed in an assist from Sora Funakoshi with 32:48 left in the first half. The goal for Haraikawa was his seventh of the season. The assist was the team-leading 11^th of the season for Funakoshi.

Haraikawa would score his second goal of the game and eighth of the season off an assist from Carlos Noboa with 19:18 left in the first half as Cowley's lead grew to 2-0. The assist was the seventh of the season for Noboa.

The Roadrunners appeared they would get on the board with 10 minutes left in the half when Kaito Ueki got behind Cowley goalkeeper Kamy Ndione, but the Tigers' Vitor Hugo Lopes dove in front of the goal and knocked away the shot attempt at the last second.

Cowley was the aggressor in the opening half, outshooting Angelina 8-4 over the first 45 minutes of play.

However, Angelina came out playing with a sense of urgency as Omar Mora headed in an assist from Ueki only five minutes into the second half, cutting the Tigers' lead to 2-1. The goal by Mora was his 20^th of the season.

The Tigers answered back with a goal from guess who, as Haraikawa came through with his third goal of the game and ninth of the season. Haraikawa's hat trick came off an assist from Arito Miyamoto with 27:19 left to play.

"Shogo came up clutch when we needed it," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said.

Cowley would make the 3-1 lead stand up as they hope to continue its season.

"Honestly, it was a  flawless performance. The boys implemented the game plan in a perfect way and I am very proud of them," Vaz said.

Cowley will need Angelina College to defeat Monroe College on Tuesday to have a chance to advance out of Pool D and into Thursday's semifinals to be played at 5:30 p.m.