Men's soccer team opens national tourney on Monday

The Eastern Florida State College men's soccer team will play for a national title this week at Daytona State College.

The Titans come into the NJCAA Division I National Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will play Monday and Tuesday afternoon in Pool C games. Eastern Florida State College will begin with Murray State College at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.

Murray State College won the Mid-South District title to advance to the national tournament as the No. 10 seed. The Aggies head into the tournament 12-2-3 this season and are making their third straight appearance at the national tournament.

The Aggies have scored 47 goals in 17 games this season and allowed just 16. Dariel Contrera has 14 goals and five assists to lead the team.

Eastern Florida State College is also heading back to the national tournament for the third straight year and the two teams will meet in the first game of the tournament for the third straight year with each team winning once.

The Titans are 11-3-1 this season and have also scored 47 goals this season in 15 games and have allowed 17. Stephen Gilbert has scored 10 times this season and has six assists while both Henry Crosthwaite and Alvin Ssekamate have 10 assists.

Eastern Florida State College reached the semifinals last season, falling to Cowley College in Wichita, Kansas. This season they will meet Cowley on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in the final game of pool play.

Cowley College is the No. 3 seed after winning the Plains District title and come into the tournament 14-1-1. The Tigers have won five in a row and has scored 46 goals in 16 games as the duo of Kanta Ishii (12 goals) and Renan Syrio (10 goals) lead the offense.

The winner of the pool will advance to the semifinals on Thursday.

Admission to games at Daytona State College are $20 per day and $60 for an all session pass. Parking is free and located on the west and south side of the stadium.