Men's Soccer Season Ends 14-4!!
The Raiders went into the 2018 season with high expectations. Finishing the prior season 13-5-2 and bringing back the majority of their starters, the coaching staff felt there was no excuse to not get as far as the National Tournament.
The Raiders struggled defensively at the beginning of the season giving up 16 goals in just 5 games but figured it out shortly after to get their first shut-out of the season against NEO A&M. Even though the Raiders struggled to keep a clean sheet, the Raiders were 5-1 just 6 games into the season. The Raiders continued their win streak up until playing NOC the first game of the regular season where they lost in overtime, 3-2. But the Raiders showed fight and bounced back and went on a 4 game winning streak, scoring 11 goals and only conceding 3. The Raiders then traveled to Hill College, a team they could possibly face in the District tournament. The Raiders played Hill earlier that season at Home and came out on top 3-2 but this time Hill came ready to play beating the Raiders 5-1. The Raiders went on to finish the regular season 12-3 heading into the conference tournament as the number one seed.
In the Conference Tournament the Raiders played Murray State first and won the game 3-1 with goals by
Justin Croke,
Ala Ramadan,
Pierre Gasogi. The Raiders then were set to play NOC in the Final, a team they split wins with in the regular season. The game was a battle but the Raiders ended up on top with a score of 2-1 and Raiders were titled Conference Champions for the second straight season. The Raiders went on to District for the 2
nd straight year.
In districts, Raiders were scheduled to play Cowley Community College, a team they played earlier that season and had lost 5-3 to. With it being late in the season, the Raiders found themselves with injuries to some key players, one being our 2
nd leading goal scorer,
Ala Ramadan. The Raiders played well but fell short 1-0 to a team that was undefeated on the season.
Coach Martin had this to say after the season,
"Well, we're disappointed we didn't't achieve our goal to make it to the district tournament in back to back seasons speaks volumes of the kind of sophomore class we have. They were the first team to make it this far their freshman year and to do it both years they were with us, doesn't't say enough about the type of players they are. We had leaders on this team that new what it took and they deserved to get to that next step and be at the National Tournament but just wasn't't our day today."
The Raiders finished the season 14-4 with accolades to the following players:
All Conference Awards:
F:
Ala Ramadan SO. MVP of Regular Season
Justin Croke
Adam Conway
Harvey Paul
All Tournament Awards:
CB:
Aleksa Mitrovic SO. Serbia was MVP of the tournament
GK:
Kevin Valdez FR.
F:
Justin Croke FR.
D:
Jackson Slayter SO.
M:
Adam Conway FR.
