The Bruins had an impressive opener at the NCCAA DII National Tournament on Wednesday night as the team shutout #6 Johnson University (TN) 5-0 in Kissimmee, Florida. Victor Oladipo led the Bruins with a pair of goals in the win as the team picked up three points in their pool standing.
"The guys were excited to get on the field and I thought it showed," Bruins Head Coach Matt Hotchkin said. "We started off with pretty good ball movement and the guys were aggressive in winning the ball."
The Bruins came into the national tournament after capturing their first South Region Championship in program history. The team earned the #1 seed for nationals where they would face the #6 seeded Royals, who finished the season at 4-8 and received an at-large bid for the tournament.
From the opening kickoff, the Bruins came out with high energy and tempo to start the game. It didn't take long for the Bruins to find the back of the net as Victor Oladipo netted a goal to put the Bruins up 1-0 just six minutes into the match.
The Bruins went right back on the attack and extended their lead thanks to a beautiful shot by Gasheed Lareche as he scored to make it 2-0 just over ten minutes into the match. The Royals tried to find a counter attack, but the Bruins continued to do well in gaining possession and using good passing to create opportunities to score.
As the first half was coming to a close, Mario Figueroa gave the Bruins a boost heading into the break as he dribbled through the Royals defense and scored to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Bruins came out looking to keep up the momentum while the Royals tried to claw their way back into the game. Again, Victor Oladipo gave the Bruins a boost as he scored another early goal in the half to push the lead to 4-0.
From there, the Bruins continued to maintain possession while limiting the chances for the Royals attack. With time winding down, Caleb Felber added the final goal for the Bruins as the junior scored his first of the season to cap a dominant performance for the team as they shutout the Royals 5-0.
"We are thankful to be down here competing for a championship," Coach Hotchkin said. "We had good minutes from a lot of players and this is good considering we were shorthanded missing some of our players tonight."
The Bruins out shot the Royals 37-4 in the match including a 21-3 margin on goal. Chris Moncewski completed his seventh clean sheet of the season, making three saves for the Bruins in the match. The Bruins will play their final pool play match on Thursday against #4 Randall University. The winner of each three-team pool advancing to the NCCAA DII National Championship on Saturday.
