DOUGLAS — The Cochise College women’s soccer team, seeded fourth, won its quarterfinal match against No. 5 Arizona Western College 4-2 in the opening round of the NJCAA Region I Tournament.
Ivonne Cisneros put Cochise on the board early with a goal in the first minute of the game, assisted by Talya De Leon and Brooke Madden.
After halftime, Madden scored in the 67th minute on a cross from De Leon that deflected off a Western defender. Seconds later, Jazmine Williams scored for Western.
In the 70th minute, Cisneros extended the lead for Cochise on an unassisted goal. Arizona Western answered in the 79th minute with a penalty kick goal by Elisa Espino. De Leon scored an insurance goal for Cochise in the 88th minute, unassisted.
Arizona Western totaled 15 shots to Cochise’s 13, and Apache goalie Danielle Dunn made 13 saves for Cochise, which now must travel to top-seeded Paradise Valley, which finished 19-1 overall, at 2 p.m. Thursday for the semifinal matchup.
The lone loss for Paradise Valley, ranked second nationally, this year came against Scottsdale in overtime. Cochise beat Scottsdale in the teams’ first matchup of the regular season, then lost the second.