BETHANY, Okla.—It is tournament time in Bethany as the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm Men's Soccer team prepares to host the GAC/MIAA tournament this weekend.
This is the first time that Southern Nazarene will host the tournament as the Crimson Storm earned their first ever Great American Conference regular season title. It was not easy for the Storm as it came down to one last contest with Fort Hays State in the final game of the regular season.
Prior to this season, Southern Nazarene's most wins in a single season since joining DII was 6. They doubled that total with an impressive 12-6 record, including a 9-3 record in conference play. They totaled 6 clean sheets as a team, 4 of which came against the other three GAC/MIAA tournament qualifying teams. SNU recorded a 5-1 record against those teams.
It was a full team effort to earn the top spot in the conference, which is clear when looking at the GAC yearly awards. SNU racked up the awards as head coach Trevor Harmon took home Coach of the Year, Angel Lopez earned Midfielder of the Year, and Daniel Trojman was tabbed as the Newcomer of the Year. Lopez and Trojman were also joined by Federico Anzoletti as First-Team All-Conference selections. Eric Romero would be named to the All-GAC second-team, while Nathaniel Mederos, Shun Kushima, Alvaro Sanchez, Esteban Ramirez, Daniel Valdez, Kazuki Okazaki, and Ramiro Diez were each selected as Honorable Mentions.
With the No. 1 overall seed, the Crimson Storm have drawn the No. 4 seeded Northeastern State Riverhawks for their first round matchup. Southern Nazarene has already notched two wins over the Riverhawks this season, dispatching of them 2-1 in Tahlequah before earning a dominating 3-0 clean sheet victory in Bethany back on October 16. The two teams will meet on Friday at 6:00 p.m. following the 3:00 p.m. game between No. 2 Fort Hays State and No. 3 Rogers State.
Fort Hays dropped to the 2 seed following SNU's 1-0 win over the Tigers in the final game of the regular season. With that loss, the Tigers drew Rogers State, who they defeated 3-1 in the first matchup before taking a 0-0 draw in the second meeting.
The winner of each matchup will meet in the GAC Championship game on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 1:00 p.m. with a spot in the NCAA Championships on the line. If the Storm can get past Northeastern, they will meet another familiar foe in either Fort Hays State or Rogers State. SNU finished 2-0 over Fort Hays State during the season, taking 1-0 wins in both matchups, while they split the season series with Rogers State.
You can follow all the action through the GAC Tournament Page.
