The seedings are out, the schedules are set, and this weekend both Monroe Mustangs soccer teams will head out to seek their fortunes in NJCAA Division I Soccer Championships. The 15-1 Monroe women are traveling to Melbourne FL as the #2 seed in the national tournament and the 11-3 men are listed at #10 in their tournament that’s being played in Prescott, AZ.
“We began this journey with recruiting at the end of last season and took it through pre-season in August, and now we’re into mid-November,” reflected men’s Coach Marcus Dibernardo. “The objective was to be right where we are now, ready to go up against the nation’s best. We’re planning to give it everything we’ve got.”
Coach ‘D’s team started out their season unevenly, not really gaining momentum until the season’s fourth game when they launched a six-game winning streak including five shutouts. They defeated ASA 5-0 in the Region Final and last weekend won the District Final over Massasoit, 2-1.
Monroe will open play in the nationals against #3 Louisburg on Tuesday morning 18 at 9:30am (11:30am NY time) and will face #6 Northern Texas on Wednesday at 9:30am (11:30am NY time).
The Monroe women suffered their only regular season loss in the second game to last year’s champs and this year’s #1-seed, Iowa Western. Since then Monroe has been unstoppable reeling off fourteen straight wins, including a double-overtime 3-2 thriller over Harford and a Region-clinching 2-1 statement game over ASA. They won the District title in another thriller, a 1-0 victory over Monroe CC in which the Mustangs got the winning goal with just minutes left on the clock.
Coach Garbar’s team will open play against #11 Owens on Monday at 4:00pm and then against #7 Pima at 4:00pm on Wednesday.
“We made a decision as a program that we woiuld be District Champions and our student athletes kept their word,” Coach Garbar said. “When you take the stairs and don’t skip a step you earn the right to decide what you get and our ultimate goal is to be the last program standing on the field.”
WATCH THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL TOURNAMENT – LIVE!
WATCH THE MEN’S NATIONAL TOURNAMENT – LIVE!
