Men's soccer makes history, advances to national championship game

The Eastern Florida State College men's soccer team has advanced to their first NJCAA Division I National Championship Game.

The Titans defeated Laramie County Community College 4-0 Friday night in the national tournament semifinals to earn a spot in the championship game for the first time in program history.

And they got things started in a hurry as Abdoulaye Diop scored in the fourth minute of the game. Two minutes later the Titans had another goal as defender Moussa Gueye's header found the net.

"The boys were really excited to get on the grass. It was difficult for us in those first two games playing on the turf, we play on a phenomenal grass field at home and we struggle a bit on turf, it was challenging but we knew once we made it to the grass we could play a more attacking game and the boys were buzzing and excited to show what they can do and the first 20 minutes we were phenomenal," Eastern Florida State College men's soccer coach Oliver Twelvetrees said. "From Moussa in the back, Abdoulaye scored a great goal and Aedon led the line with two absolute top-class finishes and we showed what a strong team we have."

Sophomore Aedon Kyra would score the final two goals and now has three in the tournament and has 16 on the season.

While the offense was clicking, the defense once again held their opponent in check as the Titans have not allowed a goal in the tournament and have a five-game shutout streak.

Nour Moaoui finished with five saves for his 12th shutout of the season, a program record.

"Perrie (Nascimento) was unbelievable tonight, that back four just continues to play well and Nour made some big saves in the first half," Twelvetrees said. "As a coach it is important to have a defensive mentality and I am proud of the boys effort." 

Eastern Florida State College improved to 17-1-2 on the season which is also a program record.

"We have been trying to build an elite program at Eastern Florida and we believe we have an elite program, sending players on and doing the right things. We make sure we are educating the players in what it takes to make the next level. But obviously the main goal is to win a national title since I was hired seven years ago and am happy that I be able to contest one," Twelvetrees said.

The fourth-seeded Titans will face No 1 seed Monroe College in the championship game at 7 p.m. EST in Tyler, Texas. The game will be available live online at njcaatv.com