WICHITA, Kan., November 14, 2023 – The title defense lives on for the Monroe College Mustangs men's soccer team, as No. 4 Monroe defeated No. 5 Angelina College, 1-0, on Tuesday at the Stryker Sports Complex to go undefeated through Pool D and advance to the semifinals of the 2023 NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship Tournament.
Much like Monroe's first game in pool play against No. 9 Cowley College, Tuesday's matchup went to the half scoreless. Unlike Sunday's contest, the Mustangs were on the offensive for the far majority of the opening 45 minutes. The Mustangs attempted eight shots in the opening frame, while the Roadrunners fired off just one. However, just one of Monroe's shot attempts went on goal in the first half.
Much like the second half of Sunday's pool-play matchup with Cowley, the Mustangs got on the board early in new period. Unlike Sunday's matchup, the Mustangs scored on their own accord against Angelina. In the 51st minute,
Florentino Gomes Moreira Junior tried to play the ball into the box, but his cross was blocked. As the defender tried to play the ball back up the field, Junior got in the way and deflected the ball away from the defender and right up to
Taisei Iida, who beat the keeper one-on-one to the left of the net to put the Mustangs on top, 1-0. As the Mustangs' defense put the clamps on the Roadrunners, Monroe's opponent was only able to attempt four shots in the final 45 minutes, putting just one on goal that was saved by
Alvaro Ramos to maintain the shutout and send the Mustangs to the semifinals.
Ramos picked up his first shutout and win of the tournament on Tuesday with his one save to help the Mustangs move on. Viktor Hojbjerg made three saves but allowed the only goal of the game in net for the Roadrunners to take the loss.
The Mustangs finished the match with a 17-5 advantage in total shots, including a 4-1 edge in shots on goal. Corner kicks were hard to come by in the game, with each team earning just one attempt.
The No. 4-seeded Mustangs are the third of four teams to advance to the semifinals of the 2023 NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship. They will be joined by a familiar foe in No. 1 Arizona Western College, Monroe's opponent in the 2022 NJCAA Championship game, which won Pool A, as well as No. 7 Tyler Junior College, which came out on top in Pool B. Pool C saw all three teams beat each other by the same score, forcing a unique three-team tiebreaker playoff that will be played on Wednesday.
After Pool C is decided, the rest of the semifinal schedule will fall in place. Both Arizona Western and Monroe know when they will play, but neither knows who they will play. Arizona Western will be the highest remaining seed, so the Matadors will play in Thursday's first semifinal matchup at 4 p.m. ET. The Mustangs cannot be the lowest remaining seed, so they will play in the second semifinal on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 28 teams competing across nine sports. There are 20 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well the Monroe College marching band, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
