Deflated after losing the Region I men’s soccer championship in what was a 1-0 penalty-kicks heartbreaker to Arizona Western, Pima College’s bid to defend its 2018 NJCAA championship was over.
Wasn’t it?
But Aztecs coach Dave Cosgrove and PCC athletic director Jim Monaco knew what almost no one else did on that unhappy Nov. 2 night at Kino North Stadium: Starting this year, the NJCAA began inviting four at-large teams to the men’s national soccer championships.
“I thought it was a long shot,” Monaco said, “but Dave and I began working on a proposal asking why Pima shouldn’t get one of those four at-large berths.”
The more Monaco and Cosgrove began their take-a-look-at-us proposal, the more they realized Pima should be a lock to get into the 12-team national championship bracket. PCC is 97-17-8 the last five years. It has become the No. 1 program in the ACCAC, surely the nation’s premier junior college soccer league.
“Our ace in the hole,” said Monaco, “was that we are the defending national champions. Our record speaks for itself.”
So the Aztecs scheduled a watch party early Monday morning, having breakfast in the school cafeteria while watching a streaming, online version of “Selection Monday.” The Aztecs were the first at-large team selected, seeded No. 9 overall in the national finals that begin Monday in Tyler, Texas.
“It has been a great week,” said Monaco.
Two days later, PCC became one of the few schools in junior college sports to sign an all-sports apparel deal with Adidas, or any of the nation’s elite sports apparel companies. One of Monaco’s first moves was to order Adidas gear to be shipped to the soccer team’s hotel in Texas.
“Essentially, Adidas will outfit all of our teams and supply branding, signage and banners, things like that,” said Monaco. “Combined with our ($210,000) agreement with Chapman Automotive, we can now hang banners from the ceiling in our gym, sort of like Boston Garden.
“We’ll be able to properly honor our men’s and women’s basketball teams, both of whom finished No. 2 in the nation in recent years.”
Pima College’s athletic program, which has a budget of about $1.7 million a year, still is in the counting-every-dollar stage. After eliminating football a few months ago, Chancellor Lee Lambert spoke about eliminating track, golf, tennis, volleyball and cross country, and basically turning the Aztecs’ athletic department into a shadow of its 50-year-old self.
Perhaps Monaco’s success in fundraising and the school’s impressive success in NJCAA sports will lead the PCC administration to celebrate its accomplishments rather than continue to give up on its athletic programs.
