COLBY, Kan. – Avenging a 3-1 loss that occurred back on September 1st, the Neosho County Community College men’s soccer team made sure they would not need to rely on a potential at-large berth into the NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Soccer National Tournament by defeating number two ranked Iowa Lakes Community College by a score of 2-0 to win the NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Soccer Plains District Tournament title on Saturday night in Chanute, Kansas.

Facing off against the defending National Champions for the second time this season, the Panthers took what was learned in their lone defeat this season and flipped the script as Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division 2 Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year Callum Niven came up with a pair of key goals in the biggest game of the season for NCCC by finding the back of the net in the 31st and 50th minutes. Also coming up with a top-level performance on Saturday night was Panther goalkeeper Grant Thackray who turned away nine shots from the Lakers to keep a clean sheet after allowing three goals on six shots in the first meeting that took place between teams earlier this season.

After having their season end in the Plains District Title game last year in a 2-0 loss to Northeast Community College, the Panthers have secured their spot in the 2024 NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Soccer National Tournament which is set to take place November 17-23, 2024 at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama. With the last NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Soccer poll being released on October 28th, NCCC entered postseason play as the number five ranked team and will now look to see what seed they earned for the National Tournament as the top three teams in the rankings all fell in their district tournaments and are awaiting potential at-large berths into the tournament. Neosho will be guaranteed at least two games in the National Tournament with the 12-team bracket being broken down into four pools of three teams each with the winners of each pool advancing to the National Semifinals.

The 2024 NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Soccer National Tournament seeds are expected to be released on Wednesday, November 13th as teams officially find out their pairings with action in Huntsville slated to begin on Sunday, November 17th.