Mesa Clinches Playoff Berth With 3-1 Win at Chandler-Gilbert

Mesa Clinches Playoff Berth With 3-1 Win at Chandler-Gilbert

Chandler, AZ - With their playoff hopes on the line, the Mesa Thunderbirds showed up big time in their final regular season game against Chandler-Gilbert.  If the T-Birds win, they're in.  They lose and they go home. 

With a 3-1 victory Wednesday night, they claim the fifth spot in the ACCAC Conference Tournament, their sixth playoff appearance in the last seven seasons.  The last four seasons have been under the helm of Head Coach Brian Ronan.

Mesa opened the scoring with a Jesus Garcia goal in the first three minutes of action.  Scoring didn't occur again until the second half when Chandler-Gilbert tied the match at one.  But another Jesus Garcia goal in the 55th minute gave the T-Birds the go-ahead goal they needed.  Garrett Kowalski added an insurance goal in the 66th minute to solidify Mesa's 3-1 win.

Overall on the regular season, Mesa finished with a 10-6-1 record with a 5-4-1 ACCAC record.  With six teams making the playoffs, the number one and two seeds will have bye's while the #3 seed plays the #6 seed and the #4 seed plays the #5 seed.  In Mesa's situation, they are the #5 seed and will have to travel to #4 Arizona Western on Monday, October 28th.  Game time is TBA but will be posted as soon as an official time has been released.