Trivelato’s hat trick lifts Tigers to 3-0 national tournament win

The No. 8-seed Cowley College men's soccer team showed they will be a tough team to beat at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Melbourne, FL, as the Tigers got three goals from sophomore Caique Trivelato and defeated 12^th-seeded Montgomery College (MD) 3-0 to win its opening game at the national tournament played Monday in Melbourne, FL.

With the victory, Cowley (14-4) advances to play top-seeded Daytona State (15-2-1) Tuesday at 9 a.m. CST. The winner will advance out of Pool A. Daytona State (FL) defeated Montgomery County by a score of 3-2 on Sunday.

"I am very happy for the win. It was important for us to start with a win and clean sheet," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. "The boys did well, considering the butterflies in their stomachs. We controlled the game as much as possible."

The Tigers dominated Monday's game as they out-shot the Raptors 14-2. However, the game remained scoreless for the first 40 minutes before Tiger sophomore Gabriel Reis stole the ball in the back half and then passed to Trivelato, who faked out the keeper to score his first of three goals and give the Tigers the 1-0 lead with just over four minutes left in the first half.

Only three minutes into the second half, freshman Sora Funakoshi blasted a shot that Raptor goalkeeper Thomas Mauro was unable to save cleanly, and Trivelato was there for the putback to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Trivelato, who was recently named the Jayhawk West Offensive Player of the Year, would complete the hat-trick by scoring his third goal of the game off an assist from Yuto Toyoizumi with 37:30 left to play.

"Caique is built for this kind of game," Vaz said. "He is very hungry to make things happen, and I am happy he delivered."

Rafael Furlani stopped both shots on goal that he faced as he notched his fifth shutout of the season.

Tuesday's game will be streamed at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/njcaa/. There is a fee to watch the streaming.