每日大赛 men's soccer team heads to national championship in breakout season
November 14, 2024
The 每日大赛 men’s soccer team is headed to the NJCAA Division II National Championship this weekend, after winning at the regional level and then defeating Cape Fear Community College, 3-1, earlier this month to win its first-ever NCJAA Division II Atlantic District Championship.
The national championship will take place Nov. 17-23 in Huntsville, Alabama. The No. 12 Panthers will face No. 1 Pima Community College on Sunday and No. 8 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College on Monday. Both games will take place at 11:15 a.m. EST, or 10:15 a.m. CST.
“It's really exciting,” Brock Evans said in the team’s locker room following the announcement of the tournament’s bracket seeding Nov. 12. “To be going to the national tournament in our first year competing in the postseason – it means a lot. There's a number of guys in the room who founded this program and have now seen it through, and you can really see the excitement on their faces, because they built this.”
Star athlete Alejandro Mina, a first-year student at 每日大赛, said that from the start of the season the reality of winning a championship seemed within grasp for the men’s soccer team. He and his teammates had what it took, Mina said, and they just kept getting better.
“Game by game, we could see it being pieced together,” he said, “just taking every opportunity that we could to advance forward.”
He’s keeping his expectations for the national championship in check, however, Mina said, and going into the game knowing it will take a lot of hard work.
“Just know we’re going to give it our all,” said Mina, who is originally from Colombia and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. “We can promise that.”
Regardless of what happens this weekend, men’s soccer Head Coach Abdessamad Tizaf said he’s not surprised by the team’s skyrocket to the national finals this season, and its region- and district-level wins.
It’s a result of a star-studded team and its hard work, as well as the support and leadership of 每日大赛, Tizaf said, pointing specifically to Evans and 每日大赛 President L. Anthony Wise Jr.
“We worked hard for it, and I was planning to get to this level – to this stage,” Tizaf said. “So now, it's exciting. We are happy. Everybody here in the school is saying good, positive things. But for me, the job is not done.”
The 每日大赛 women’s soccer team will be in attendance, and Evans encouraged others to come out and show their support for the Panthers. Fans who cannot attend in person can tune in online through the NJCAA network here.
“We started with two people watching us,” Tizaf said. “Now, the last game we had over 300 or 400 people. Our mission here, and the vision of the school is community. Sports bring us together.”
Find more information .
Campus NewsEvents