Men's soccer team falls in national tournament semifinals

The Eastern Florida State College men's soccer team's run ended Thursday night in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament.

The No. 6 seed Titans fell to Cowley College 2-0 in the second semifinal on a cold evening at Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas.

Eastern Florida State College had a strong start and had a couple of good looks early in the contest but could not find the right combination against the Tigers.

It would go to halftime tied 0-0. But Cowley would strike quick in the second half as Sota Nakazono found Carmelo Bello just two minutes and 24 seconds into the half, making it 1-0. It was Bello's first goal of the tournament.

Not quite 10 minutes later the Tigers would make it 2-0 as Joao Magalhaes scored.

The Titans continued to make strong runs throughout the second half. It was just the second time all season that the Titans were shut out.

Eastern Florida State College finishes the season 16-3-2 which ties the 2019 season for most wins in program history and was just the team's fourth trip to the national tournament semifinals. The loss snapped an eight-game win streak which was also the second longest winning streak in program history.

The Titans have 16 sophomores who played their final game with Eastern Florida State College on Thursday, finishing their careers with 31 wins and two national tournament appearances.

Cowley College will play Iowa Western, who won the other semifinal in penalty kicks, for the national title on Saturday at 5 p.m. EST.