Dramatic Outcomes Highlight First-Round Contests at CAC Men’s Soccer Championship
Carolina University (North Carolina) and Florida National University registered one-goal triumphs in first-round matches of the 2025 Continental Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship at Georgia Gwinnett College's Grizzly Soccer Complex on Friday evening.
Carolina, the No. 4 seed, scored with 27 seconds remaining after allowing a match-tying goal in the final minute for a 3-2 victory against No. 5 seed Florida College. Then, No. 3 seed Florida National netted the match-winning goal in the last 10 minutes to defeat No. 6 seed Hesston College (Kansas) 2-1.
With Friday's victories, Carolina advances to play GGC, the top seed, in the semifinal round on Sunday, November 9, at 5 p.m. Bellevue University (Nebraska), the No. 2 seed, will face Florida National in the other semifinal match at 8 p.m.
Here are recaps from Friday's first-round matches:
Match 1: Carolina University 3, Florida College 2
Soe Paing scored with 27 seconds remaining to lift No. 4 seed Carolina University (North Carolina) past No. 5 seed Florida College 3-2 in a back-and-forth match. The victory was the first NAIA postseason victory in program history for the Bruins.
The winning goal came 24 seconds after Florida College's Yorgen Torres had tied the match at 2-2.
The Bruins (8-4-2) opened the scoring in the 11th minute as a pass from Will McCamley set up Samuel Richter for the goal. The team held onto that one-goal advantage throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Florida College (7-9-2) got on the scoreboard with an unassisted goal from Leo Hackett in the 59th minute.
Carolina regained the lead, at 2-1, nearly 10 minutes later as Jordan Julien buried a shot from the top of the 18-yard box inside the left goal post.
That set up the dramatic final minute, with Florida College tying the match only to have Carolina tally the decisive third goal.
Match 2: Florida National University 2, Hesston College 1
CAC Newcomer of the Year David Luque volleyed a shot into the back of the net following a right crossing pass from Dylan Gibbs to give No. 3 seed Florida National University a 2-1 victory against No. 6 seed Hesston College (Kansas) in the second first-round match.
All of the match's scoring came during the second half.
Florida National's Filipe Ribeiro flicked a shot over an outreached Hesston goalkeeper Harry Morris in the 61st minute. Fabio Zandona played a ball from midfield over the defense to set up Ribeiro's scoring opportunity.
Hesston (11-7-1) executed a corner kick play to square the match, at 1-1, in the 78th minute. Yura Yamazaki delivered a right corner kick to the corner of the 18-yard box, where Alexander Radu fired a shot into the back of the opposing net.
The Conquistadors (11-3-3) held a 15-3 shot advantage and had a 10-2 edge in corner kicks in the triumph.