Men's soccer team opens with top-10 matchup Thursday

The Eastern Florida State College men's soccer team will open the regular season with a top-10 matchup at Orlando Health Stadium on Thursday.

The Titans come into the season as the third-ranked team in the NJCAA Division I National Poll with a strong group returning from last season's 16-win team that reached the final four in the national tournament. Joao Victor Loureiro and Stephen Gilbert are back after each scored seven goals last season as well Liam Kuemmitz, Louis Munn and Ocira Lazarus bringing a lot of experience and leadership.

Turn the page to 2025 and the group begins with a very talented Monroe University team who is ranked 10^th in the preseason poll and coming off a seven-win season. The program has won three national champions under head coach Marcus DiBernardo. The first national title came against Eastern Florida State College in 2019, a 2-1 victory in the final.

Like the Titans, the Mustangs have a good mix of returning players to go with some experienced players joining the team.

Braxton Richards is back after scoring seven goals in nine games last season as well as Jin Yamamoto who had five goals and four assists in 12 games, starting 10 times. Kelvin Yengbie, Sebastian Sayers and Reno Ishida also had solid freshmen seasons and are back for the Mustangs.

The home opener will begin at 1 p.m. at Orlando Health Stadium and admission is free to the game on the Melbourne campus. The game will also be live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.