MELBOURNE, Fla., November 18, 2022 – The No. 3-seeded Monroe College Mustangs men's soccer team has earned its way back to the NJCAA Championship game, and is set to take on No. 7 Arizona Western College in Saturday's NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship final. The Mustangs are looking to win their second national championship in four years.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
2022 NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship
Melbourne, Fla. / Orlando Health Stadium

#3 Monroe College vs. #7 Arizona Western College
Saturday, Nov. 19 - 7:00 PM

CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE
Saturday's matchup will be broadcast live on the NJCAA Network.
 
Follow along with live stats on the Monroe Mustangs live stats page.
 
HOW WE GOT HERE
#3 MONROE COLLEGE
After getting upset in the East District Championship final by Montgomery College, the Mustangs entered the 2022 NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship as the No. 3 seed after earning an at-large bid into the tournament. After shouldering their first loss of the season, the Mustangs have rebounded to make their way to the final game of the 2022 season.
 
Monroe was placed in Pool C with No. 6 Jefferson College and No. 10 Angelina College. The Mustangs opened the tournament this past Sunday against Angelina, finding themselves in a defensive battle with the Roadrunners that resulted in a 0-0 draw after two overtime periods. Needing penalty kicks to decide a winner, the Mustangs got the job done with a 4-2 victory in the shootout, earning three points in the standings.
 
After Angelina bounced back to defeat Jefferson, 1-0, on Monday, Tuesday's pool-play finale had a lot at stake for all three teams. Jefferson had the Mustangs on their heels, scoring two goals in the first 16 minutes to make the Mustangs play from behind. Tony Yeboah got the Mustangs on the board in the 42nd minute to cut the deficit in half. Early in the second half, Godwin Partey scored on a header off a corner kick from Nils Friebe to tie the game, shifting all the momentum in Monroe's favor. Just nine minutes later, Bruno Rosa scored what proved to be the game winner, as the Mustangs held the Vikings off the board for the entire second half to win, 3-2, and advance to the semifinals.
 
Monroe drew No. 8 Cowley College in Thursday's semifinal contest, with the Tigers coming off a dominant upset victory over No. 1 Daytona State College by a score of 5-1. The Mustangs once again found themselves in an early hole, as the Tigers got a lucky bounce that left Filipe Freitas with a wide-open net to put Cowley up, 1-0, just 80 seconds into the game. In the 29th minute, Yeboah scored the equalizer off a beautiful cross up the field from Shotaro Kino. Four minutes later, Rosa set up Yeboah up the middle of the field, where he beat the keeper just over his hands to put Monroe ahead, 2-1. Cowley had a number of chances to tie in the second half, forcing the Mustangs to play counter for nearly the entire 45 minutes, but goalkeeper Johan Rodriguez and the defense held strong to complete the victory and send Monroe to the championship.
 
#7 ARIZONA WESTERN COLLEGE
The Matadors earned their way into the national tournament as the West District Championship, having defeated Snow College in the district championship game. Arizona Western drew the No. 7 seed, putting the Matadors in Pool B with No. 2 Tyler Junior College and No. 11 Otero College.
 
The Matadors played their first game of the tournament on Monday in a matchup with No. 11 Otero. After a scoreless first half, Terry Makedika scored at the 52:00 mark for the only goal of the game, leading Arizona Western to a 1-0 victory.
 
Arizona Western then took on Tyler, a perennial championship contender, the next day. The Matadors grabbed a very early lead when Shoki Yoshida scored in the sixth minute, but Arizona Western nearly had its heart broken when Tyler's Luis Flores scored the tying goal in the 89th minute, forcing overtime. However, the Matadors came through in the 96th minute when Luis Ortner scored the golden goal, earning the Matadors the upset victory to send them to the semifinals.
 
Arizona Western took on No. 4 Salt Lake Community College in the semifinals, with the Bruins having just defeated the defending champions, Iowa Western Community College, in Pool D. Makedika put the Matadors up in the 22nd minute in Thursday evening's contest, but Salt Lake's Ty Sanchez knotted things up at 1-1 early in the second half. Not even five minutes later, Yoshida put the Matadors up for good, leading to a 2-1 victory to send Arizona Western to the final.
 
HISTORY
The Mustangs will be playing for the NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship for the fifth time since 2011. 2022 is the Mustangs' eighth national tournament appearance, and the Mustangs will be looking to capture their second NJCAA Title after winning their first in 2019. Monroe lost in the NJCAA Championship to Cloud County in 2011, and twice to Tyler in 2014 and 2016, before finally ending the championship woes in 2019 with a 2-1 victory over Eastern Florida State College.
 
The Matadors have been to the NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship final just one time in their history, but that time was last year, when Arizona Western took on Iowa Western in the 2021 NJCAA Championship. The Reivers defeated the Matadors in the 2021 final, 2-0. Arizona Western had previously made the national tournament in 2019, coming in as the No. 7 seed once again that season. That season, the Matadors went 0-2 in pool play, with No. 11 seed Illinois Central College making a push to be a Cinderella story after going 2-0 in Pool B before running into the Mustangs in the semifinals.
 
HOW THEY STACK UP

MONROE	STAT (NJCAA RANKING)	ARIZONA WESTERN
13-1-3	RECORD	18-2
65 (6)	GOALS	75 (3)
3.82 (3)	GOALS PER GAME	4.17 (2)
0.91 (5)	GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE	1.20 (15)

 
The Mustangs are led offensively by Tony Yeboah, who has 37 points on the season with 15 goals and seven assists. Bruno Rosa and Diego Batista have each scored nine goals on the season, with 10 and six assists, respectively. Johan Rodriguez took over in goal during Monroe's first pool-play game against Angelina. He has a goals-against average of 1.07 and a save percentage of .727 with eight saves in two starts and four total appearances. He is 2-0-1 during the NJCAA Championship tournament.
 
Terry Makedika leads the Matadors with 29 points on 13 goals and three assists this season. Luis Ortner has 25 points on 10 goals and five assists. Nozomu Kamei leads the team with six seven and adds eight goals for 23 total points. Atsuki Sato is 12-1-0 on the season in net for the Matadors with a 1.19 goals-against average and a .712 save percentage.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 35 teams competing across nine sports. There are 21 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well the Monroe College marching band and the newly added esports and men's volleyball programs, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 11 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).