POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The National Junior College Athletic Association announced its bracket for the upcoming DII Men's Soccer Championships, and the Pearl River Wildcats have been named the No. 7 seed.
The tournament will be played in Huntsville, Ala. at John Hunt Park & Joe Davis Stadium. The tournament is scheduled to run Nov. 17-23.
ABOUT POOL B
Pearl River (13-4-4 overall) won the Gulf South District Championship to earn an automatic berth to Nationals. The tournament features 12 teams, and the Wildcats were named the 7-seed. Also in Pool B are 2-seed Neosho County (Kan.) (17-1-2) and 11-seed Heartland (Ill.) (9-6-4). The Wildcats take on Heartland on Monday at 12:45 p.m. and Neosho County at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
Pearl River is led by one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the country, Tiago Honorio Jr. (São Paulo, Brazil). The sophomore is tied for the NJCAA lead with 29 goals. He has already broken PRCC's single-match and single-season goal-scoring records and is two goals away from breaking Michael Allizzo's career record (42 goals). He also has eight assists. Emil Corfitzen (Copenhagen, Denmark) is PRCC's next biggest threat, tallying 10 goals and 12 assists this season. Tycho van Haaren (Doetinchem, Netherlands) has four goals and 11 assists.
Goalkeeper Cameron Kent (Brandon) has turned away 110 shots this season and allowed 32 goals. His goals-against average is 1.56 this season.
Heartland defeated No. 13 Mineral Area and then won its championship with a penalty kicks victory over Parkland. The Hawks are led by Luca Hubner, who has scored 10 goals and assisted on two more. Joe Delaney has nine goals and nine assists this year. Nick Hardiman has allowed 25 goals and made 53 saves for the Hawks this season. His goals-against average sits at 1.50.
Neosho County defeated No. 8 Johnson County in its region final before taking care of No. 2 Iowa Lakes in the district final. Callum Niven leads the team with 18 goals and nine assists. Dylan Roberts is second with 11 goals and five assists. Joe Taylor has racked up 16 assists and three goals on the year.
The Panthers are one of the top defensive teams in the country, allowing just 0.79 goals per game. Goalkeeper Grant Thackray has made 83 saves and allowed just 14 goals for a goals-against average of 0.83.
The top team from each group advances to Thursday's semifinal. The Championship match will be played on Saturday.
TICKETS
Tickets are available at gofan.co/event/1678482?schoolId=FL87505. A tournament pass is $100, and individual day passes are $20.
TUNE IN
All games will be livestreamed at NJCAA.org/network. A tournament pass is available for $30, and a day pass is $12.
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