CORVALLIS, Ore. – After winning the 2023 Cascade Collegiate Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, the number three seeded College of Idaho Men’s Soccer team was named the Under Armour Team of the Week for Nov. 6 – 12, the CCC announced Sunday.
C of I breezed through the tournament, securing a tournament championship victory, after a 20-year drought.
The Yotes entered the tournament holding a 10-3-3 overall, 9-2-2 CCC record, losing the postseason head-to-head tiebreaker to Warner Pacific University.
The team started the tournament with a 2-0 shutout victory over The Evergreen State College. Hugo Guevara and Jorge Fernandez scored for the Yotes. C of I outshout TESC by a total of 19-5. College of Idaho then advanced to the semifinals, on Wednesday where they faced Warner Pacific in a more difficult defeat.
Against WPU, The Yotes opened the scoring with a goal by Jorge Fernandez, 12 minutes into the game. The Knights got on the board in the 62nd minute. Then, it was a stalemate until after double overtime, resulting in penalty kicks. C of I advanced to the Championship game, taking the shootout victory 5-4.
In the Tournament Championship game, C of I faced the CCC Regular Season Champions of Southern Oregon University. Sophomore midfielder Eric Hornung scored 15 minutes in, off an assist from a throw-in by Dani Alejos. This would become the lone goal of the game as the teams battled hard until the clock ran out. This forced a defensive showdown as both goalkeepers put on an amazing performance. Tom Baynard-Smith, had a fantastic game in net, coming in clutch when the Yotes needed him most. The All-CCC First Team member completed six saves, helping lead to the clean sheet tournament upset.
The teams will find out their opponents when the NAIA announces official qualifiers on Monday (
NAIA YouTube Channel), with the first and second round set to begin later next week.