Men's soccer team wins in double OT, advances to semifinals
The Eastern Florida State College men's soccer team has advanced to the semifinals of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Wichita, Kansas.
The No. 6 seed Titans knocked off No. 3 seed Salt Lake Community College 1-0 in double overtime to win the Group C title and advance to Thursday's national tournament semifinals.
"It was an ugly game to be honest, I don't feel like there was a better team, but we had grit and determination and found a way," Eastern Florida State College men's soccer coach Adam Butler said.
In another cold, windy evening at Stryker Sports Complex, the Titans battled Salt Lake Community College in an up and down game for 90 minutes without a score. It was more of the same in the first overtime but with just under six minutes left in the second overtime, the Titans were awarded a free kick.
Luc Achermann-Stanfield set it up and struck a nice ball into the box where Lars Bekman jumped up and hit it into the back of the net. It was the second goal of the season for Bekman and 20th assist for Achermann-Stanfield.
"I told Luc to get it to the first post and I was going across, I saw it coming and put my head in front of it," Bekman said. "Great, great, it feels really good!"
It is the first time the men's soccer team has made it to the national tournament semifinals since 2019 when they made it to the national championship game. It is the fourth time the program has reached the national tournament semifinals.
"It is amazing. I am always trying to take the program to new heights, and this is amazing," Butler said. "I am going to enjoy this and figure out what is next tomorrow morning."
The Titans will play Cowley College who defeated Arizona Western in penalty kicks on Tuesday night. The semifinal game will be at 6:30 p.m. EST Thursday at Stryker Sports Complex on Thursday.
The semifinal games will be shown live online on ESPN+. You can also follow the team all week on the EFSC Titans X page as well as at efsctitans.com
