Conference play kicks off Thursday with a host of teams chasing sixth-ranked Yavapai which suffered its first defeat Saturday.
Mesa's Andres Hernandez scored in the 86th minute to give the T-Birds a 1-0 victory and send YC to its first loss of the year after seven season-opening wins. The Roughriders had extended their streak earlier in the week with wins over Paradise Valley, 4-0, and Chandler-Gilbert, 3-0. MCC fell at Scottsdale, 2-1, earlier with Saulo Calderon and Xavier Wilson netting second-half goals for SCC, leaving Mesa at 4-2.
Second-ranked Pima also suffered its first loss of the year when Luis Gandera connected for the game's only goal in the 67th minute for Phoenix in a 1-0 win. Pima is 4-1-1 while the Bears improved to 5-1after a 1-0 victory over Arizona Western Saturday. Kazuyuki Hata's first-half goal stood up for the Bears.
Chandler-Gilbert is 5-2 after splitting two matches. The Coyotes topped Scottsdale 2-0. Kameron Lilly and Abdullahi Mohammed, both scored in the first 12 minutes of the contest. CGCC also lost to Yavapai during the week.
AZW had a 1-0 win over Glendale with Erik Ibarra connecting in the first half. That left the Mats with a 4-2-1 mark.
