By Dena Adi/sports editor
Tempers flared as competition grew tough in the first week of SE Campus intramural soccer playoffs April 16.
Photos by Justin Gladney/The Collegian
Tejas FC, Power Rangers and the Oh Yeahs advanced after their matchups while Harambee Stars, Vietnamese Aliens and The Players were eliminated. The Colts were awarded the only first-round bye and will face Tejas FC April 23.
Perhaps Harambee Stars wished to avoid another Tejas FC-dominated game as most of its players did not show for the rematch — resulting in a forfeit and automatically advancing Tejas FC.
An indifferent Tejas FC scrimmaged among themselves and will go confidently into the final four as campus favorites.
Power Rangers played with only five players, but Donovan Castellano picked up the slack in his superb performance, scoring a whopping five goals.
Vietnamese Aliens refused to go down without a fight, though. After Castellano’s fourth goal, Aliens’ Hien Tran shot the ball in two back-to-back attempts, but Power Rangers goalie Mike Miller made the stops. Power Rangers won 7-4.
Power Rangers team captain Adam Mwakikoti keyed in on his appreciation for Castellano in the middle of other teammates’ lack of dedication.
“It’s funny. Last week, we were talking about how our guys showed up, and this week some of our guys didn’t. There’s a lot of frustration because we were short and this is the playoffs,” he said. “We know all of us are capable of having a big game. We needed someone to step up and do that for us, 
and today it was Donovan.”
The final game of the day was worth the wait, ending in a controversial 11-10 Oh Yeahs’ win in a shootout.
The Players started off the game strong, but Karim Alherbi’s temper got the best of him after getting yellow carded twice, once for slide tackling an opponent and another for foul language.
“I never get carded,” he said. “This is ridiculous.”
With only minutes remaining and a 6-6 score, Oh Yeahs’ Edwin Jimenez shot and scored for the team’s first lead of the game.
The lead was short-lived as The Players’ Khalid Eissa came through in the clutch, tying up the score at 7 and taking the game into overtime.
Both teams scored once in the five-minute overtime leaving the game up to a final shootout.
The Players scored first in the shootout on its third try as the Oh Yeahs missed its first three consecutive tries.
Just as The Players looked as though it would be the team to advance, the Oh Yeahs’ Kevin Estrada made the next shot and two followed, ending the game in Oh Yeahs’ favor making three shots versus The Players’ two in the shootout.
Team members of The Players didn’t think they received as many tries as the Oh Yeahs and argued with the referees well after the game. However, the referees assured them that they were keeping up and that the Oh Yeahs won fair and square.
Jimenez gives credit to both teams for the Oh Yeahs’ win.
“We worked as a team. We controlled our composure, and we just pretty much let them [The Players] beat themselves,” he said.
