There are times when you just know that things will be rough, and heading into the Region 16 men's soccer final on Saturday, the Archers knew that the championship match was going to be a challenge. The two neighboring rival schools, St. Louis Community College and Jefferson College, gave the fans who braved the brisk and windy weather an instant classic match that was fitting of the top two teams in Region 16, as STLCC pulled out a 2-1 victory.

The Archers struck first with a goal from Noah Vezzu, his seventh of the season, when he took a Mattias Tonking pass and found the back of the net in the fourteenth minute of action. Jefferson answered back with a Jack Foster goal in the thirty-ninth minute, Sebastian Salek assisted as Foster found the back post to tie the match heading to half. Nine minutes into the second half, the Archers used a restart after a Viking foul, and Conor McArthur found the head of Savino Livornese in the front of the box to give the Archers a 2-1 lead, the goal was the fourth of the season for Livornese. Jefferson kept the pressure on the remainder of the match, but the STLCC defense did a good job of limiting the amount of good looks the Vikings received.

With the Region 16 championship, St. Louis Community College does qualify for the NJCAA National Tournament, which will be held in Prescott, Arizona, November 13-18th. The top ranked Archers improve to 21-0-0 and host Illinois Central College on Saturday afternoon on the Flo Valley campus. The match is set for a 1:00 pm start.