Tiger soccer season comes to an end at the national tourney

In the same boat as the Cowley College women's soccer team was earlier in the day, the No. 9-seeded Cowley College men's soccer team needed help to advance to the semifinals of the NJCAA Division I Men's Soccer National Championships held at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, KS. Unfortunately, Angelina College lost 1-0 to Monroe College, thus ending the Tigers' season and advancing Monroe to the semifinals.

Cowley finishes another tremendous season with a District title, a win at the national tournament, and a record of 16-5. However, it does not take away the pain of having its season come to an end after a win on Monday.

"This is the saddest I have been because this team deserved better," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. "We had talent and resilience, the guys never gave up. We have to accept it and move on, but I am very proud of the guys."

Monroe Advances out of Pool D and will play the winner of Pool C on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The winner of Thursday's semifinal game will move on to play for the national championship Saturday at 4 p.m. All of the games are played at the Stryker Sports Complex.

Cowley will say goodbye to six sophomores who were a part of 32 wins, two District titles, and three national tournament victories over the past two seasons. The sophomores are Vitor Hugo Lopes, Bruno Fornes, Yuto Toyoizumi, Mate Kenyeres, Yuki Nakamura, and Sora Funakoshi.

"They were few, but they were great," Vaz said. "I am honored to have coached them."

This marked the fifth time in the past six seasons that Cowley's season finished at the national tournament.