The MVCC Men's Soccer team defeated  6-time defending National Champion, Dallas Richland College by a score of 2-1 in overtime on Sunday evening. The Hawks drew first blood in the 16th minute when Santiago Molina Villafane played a free kick into the box. Davi Pena Moretzsohn won the initial ball and played a first-time pass to Tony Gjomemo who slid to finish home the first time opportunity to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. After 30 more minutes of play, the

Hawks would take the 1-0 lead into halftime. In the second half, Dallas Richland would earn a corner kick that Alan Rivera served into the box and was finished by Joseph Min to tie the game 1-1.

The Thunderducks would continue to press throughout the second half but couldn't beat Hawk's defense and goalkeeper Jaime Mata. After 90 minutes, the game would head into two 10-minute golden goal overtime periods, if neither team could break the deadlock, the game would get decided in penalty kicks. Just 4 minutes into the first overtime period, Gustavo Nunes would dribble past a couple of Richland defenders and play the ball into Souayibou Diop. Diop would then combine with Santiago Molina Villafane for a give and go and Diop would blast home a volley from the top of the penalty box into the top corner of the goal to give the Hawks their first ever National Championship in program history. Jaime Mata would finish the game with 3 saves.

"What an unbelievable game" stated Head Coach Dominic DiMaggio. "The guys executed our game plan extremely well and played with so much heart tonight. We learned so much about ourselves last year after losing to Dallas in the National Championship game. Guys came in this year with a new mindset after realizing what it takes to compete with a team like Dallas Richland. I'm so proud and happy for the group. We've had a lot of ups and downs this season with our results but we seemed to get everything right for the most important time of the season."Hawk's forward Santiago Molina Villafane was named the Championship's Most Valuable Player while Hawk's goalkeeper Jaime Mata was named Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Tournament.

Head Coach Dominic DiMaggio was named Coach of the Tournament. Souayibou Diop and Tony Gjomemo were also named to the All-Tournament team alongside Villafane and Mata. This marks the first-ever National Championship for the Men's Soccer team in program history. Last year, the Hawks and Thunderducks met in the National Championship match with the Thunderducks beating the Hawks 4-0. The Hawks complete their historic run with a record of 14-2-3 while the Thunderducks drop to 14-3 on the season. This marks the first loss for the Thunderducks to a NJCAA Division III opponent since the 2017 season when Genesee Community College beat the Thunderducks 2-1 in the National Championship game. For more information and photos on the NJCAA Division III Men's Soccer National Championships,

please visit https://www.njcaa.org/sports/msoc/2024-

25/div3/national_championship/championship_recap .