The 10^th seeded ARC men’s soccer team rolled through the Northern California regional tournament, earning a berth in the state semifinals at Mt. San Antonio College on December 3^rd.

The playoff run began with a hard-fought victory over the Feather River Golden Eagles by the score of 2-1. The Beavers gave up an early goal to the Golden Eagles, but in the 35^th minute Miguel Aguirre scored an equalizer to tie the game at 1-1. In the 2^nd half the Beavers controlled play and eventually took the lead when Adrian Galeana scored in the 70^th minute. After giving up the early goal, Beaver goalkeeper, Gerardo Perez-Plata, made 4 saves keeping Feather River off the scoreboard and sealing the win for ARC.

In the NorCal quarterfinal the Beavers would face off against the Giants from the College of the Sequoias, who were coming off an upset victory over the 2^nd seeded Foothill Owls in the 1^st round. The Beavers’ Roberto Carlos Plascencia scored twice (20’, 65’) and Diego Ramirez scored in the 80^th minute to finish a 3-0 shutout of the Giants. It was Gerardo Perez-Plata’s 4^th shutout of the season.

To qualify for the Final Four ARC would need to defeat conference rival, the Cosumnes River Hawks, in the NorCal semifinals. The Beavers and Hawks had split the previous two meetings on the season, with the Hawks winning the first at CRC 2-1 and The Beavers winning the 2^nd matchup at home by the score of 3-2. The Beavers came out on fire, scoring two goals in the first 8 minutes of the game. Adrian Galeana (5’) and Zac Dye (8’) put the Beavers ahead early and they were able to hold off the surging Hawks for the win, sending them to the state semifinal.

Looking ahead to the Final Four, ARC will face host, and state #3, Mt. San Antonio College. As the 2^nd seeded qualifying team from the North, ARC draws the top qualifying team from the south. Mt. SAC (17-2-2) has been among the top-ranked teams in the state all year and has won each of their playoff games by multiple goals. In the other semifinal, the top North seed, Hartnell (State #1), will face the 2^nd qualifying Southern team, El Camino (State #6), to determine who will play for the state championship against the winner of ARC/MT. SAC on December 5^th. It has been a magical run for the Beavers so far and they hope to continue their late season momentum in the state semifinals this weekend.