After a dominant 2021 regular season, the men's soccer team has earned the top-seeded spot in the NCCAA DII South Region Tournament. The Bruins enter this week's tournament boasting a 12-2-2 record, their best in program history. Through four region matchups this season, the men's soccer team remains undefeated scoring 22 goals and only allowing one goal against which came in their game at Pensacola Christian College.
"We're into the part of the season where either you win or you go home, and we want to win every game," said Coach Greg Fulton. "We've established dominance in our region this year. We've stopped worrying about what other teams do and started about just being us and that's been more than enough to win games. That's the message heading into these games, to just be us and I don't think anyone can handle it."
The Schedule
Bob Jones University is hosting this year's
region championship tournament and matches will be held November 3-6 at Alumni Stadium. The games kick off on Wednesday at 5 p.m. where #6 Trinity College (FL) will take on #3 Trinity Baptist College. Following that match at 7 p.m., #5 Johnson University (FL) and #4 Toccoa Falls College will play. Number 2 seed Pensacola Christian College will play the winner of the Trinity College (FL)/Trinity Baptist College match for the semifinals at 5 p.m. on Thursday. The Bruins will compete in the semifinals on Thursday as they face off against the winner of the the Johnson University/Toccoa Falls match. The region championship match will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. on Alumni Stadium.
The Competition
Trinity College of Florida played 9 games this season, only scoring two goals, the lowest in the NCCAA.
Johnson University (FL) did not play the Bruins this season, but in their last matchup on October 8, 2020, they Bruins blew them out of the water with an 18-0 shutout victory. The Suns enter this week's tournament with a 7-6-2 record overall and are 2-1 in region play. They defeated Trinity Baptist College two times this season and their only region loss came against Trinity College of Florida after having to forfeit the game.
The Bruins last took on Toccoa Falls on September 23 where they came away with a commanding 9-0 victory. The Screaming Eagles finished the regular season 5-8 and lost all four of their South Region matchups this season.
Nine of the 12 games for Trinity Baptist College have been against region rivals with Trinity winning four of those matches this season. The Bruins and Eagles met twice this season with the Bruins scoring 11 total goals and earning clean sheets in both contests.
Pensacola Christian College and the Bruins met in October 2 where the Bruins battled to a 2-1 win in Florida. Pensacola comes into this week's games 5-9-1 overall and a 2-2 region record.
The Game Plan
Coach Fulton's game plan? "Take it one game at a time, one opponent at a time, and see where we'll finish." The Bruins are on a nine game undefeated streak heading into their first match of the tournament. Be on the lookout for Victor Oladipo as he has been on a tear, leading the men's soccer team with 17 goals so far this season.
"Now it's pressure time, and I think our team is ready to handle it," said Fulton.
All games are free for fans to attend and will be
webcast as well. Tournament info can be found
here.
