Men's soccer team will play Barton in national tournament semifinals

 The Eastern Florida State College men's soccer team heads into the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament semifinals with some confidence after winning in penalty kicks to punch their ticket.

The Titans defeated Marshalltown 4-3 in penalty kicks as goalkeeper Nour Moaoui made a key save to preserve the win. It marked the fifth straight shutout by the Titans who have allowed four goals in the past 13 games.

"We have come through some incredibly hard games to get to this point and I know our team's incredible strength of character will help us put in a top performance again tomorrow," Eastern Florida State College men's soccer coach Oliver Twelvetrees said. 

Eastern Florida State College will face a familiar foe in Barton Community College at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon at Daytona State College. Twelvetrees spent seven seasons at Barton before coming to Eastern Florida State College.

"As teams and staff, we know each other well," Twelvetrees said. "Mike (Brown) and I are good friends and obviously it is a place where I had a fantastic seven years. Great to see Barton back at the national tournament and it's going to be a very tough game as you would expect in a National semifinal." 

Both teams have showcased strong defenses throughout the season as the Titans have posted 10 shutouts and Barton has recorded 13 shutouts this season. The Titans have not allowed a goal in the tournament while Barton picked up the 4-3 victory over Georgia Military Wednesday to advance to the semifinals.

The game will be the second semifinal of the day as No. 1 seed Pima plays No. 7 Monroe College at noon. Both games will be shown live on WDSC-TV.