Worth the wait! In a game that started three hours behind schedule and was played with temperatures in the 30s, the fourth-seed Cowley College men’s soccer team shutout No. 6-seed Eastern Florida State 2-0 at the NJCAA Division I Men’s Soccer National Championships held Thursday at the SCHEELS Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, KS.
Cowley (17-1-3) has not lost since a 2-1 defeat against Indian Hills on September 25 and advances to Saturday’s championship game at 4 p.m., where they will face top-seed Iowa Western, which is 21-0-3 on the season.
Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz was proud of how his team handled the adversity of the late start and harsh playing conditions.
“We were resilient and smart,” Vaz said. “We stayed connected to the team and did what we needed to do. This is a big achievement for us to get to the championship game.”
The Titans finish the season with a record of 16-3-2.
On Thursday, the teams found goals hard to come by and battled to a scoreless halftime tie.
Cowley came out as the aggressor in the second half and got the eighth goal of the season from Carmello Belo to break the scoreless tie. Bello scored by heading in a beautiful pass from Soto Nakazono only two minutes into the second half.
The Tigers were not done there, and nine minutes later, Joao Magalhaes scored his third goal of the season to give Cowley a 2-0 advantage.
With Kamy Ndione in goal, that would be more than enough as the sophomore stopped all six shots he faced to record his ninth shutout of the season.
Cowley will try to win one more game and bring home the program’s first national championship.
“Iowa Western has been there several times, so it will be a tough match,” Vaz said. “But, we are excited about the opportunity. We know what we have and what we can achieve, so we will be ready.”
