NO. 3 NORTHEAST TOPS NO. 1 IOWA LAKES TO TAKE REGION 11 REGULAR SEASON CROWN

SPENCER, Iowa – The No. 3 Northeast Community College men's soccer team made the trip to Spencer, Iowa Wednesday for a showdown with No. 1 Iowa Lakes. The Hawks took the highly-anticipated matchup by a final score of 3-2 to become champions of the Region 11 regular season.

Northeast (17-1-1, 9-0 ICCAC) and the Lakers squared off on three different occasions last season with the Hawks taking both the regular season contest and the duel in the Region 11 Tournament Championship in 2023 while Iowa Lakes captured the victory in the national tournament semifinal matchup. Both squads entered the day on top of the Region 11 regular season standings with match deciding which team would be the No. 1 seed in the Region 11 Tournament. Northeast just needed a tie in the battle while the Lakers needed an outright win to become Region 11 regular season champions.

A draw looked very much on the table through one half of play as neither team was able to find the back of the net in the first 45 minutes. Iowa Lakes scored in the 52nd-minute to break the stalemate while the Hawks responded with a goal of their own in the 67th-minute off the foot of Aleksander Pedersen (Aarhus, Denmark). The Lakers responded just five minutes later with another goal and Northeast trailed 2-1 with eight minutes remaining in the competition. Lewis Rourke (Nottingham, England) in the 82nd-minute and Luca Rosen in the 85th-minute both scored to secure the ranked victory and the Region 11 regular season title for the Hawks.

The win gave Northeast a perfect 9-0 record through the conference portion of their schedule and awarded them the crown of Region 11 regular season champions for the second-straight year. The triumph also marked the first time in the history of the men's soccer program that they took down a team ranked No. 1 nationally in the NJCAA Men's Soccer Rankings.

STAT SHEET:

Goals: Aleksander Pedersen (Aarhus, Denmark), Lewis Rourke (Nottingham, England), Luca Rosen (London, England)

Assists: Edouard Nys (Dottignies, Belgium) (2), Luca Rosen, Mathias Kristoffersen (Skovby, Denmark)

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:

Head Men's Soccer Coach Adam Potter on the wild match against No. 1 Iowa Lakes:

"What a win by the guys!" Potter said. "What a response. I'm most proud about the guys taking the gameplan and executing it perfectly. They never got rattled or down. They knew what it took. You could clearly see on the field how bad our guys wanted it today. They never quit and never stopped. That's a theme we are starting to see in big games with our guys. They don't quit. It's who we are."

Potter on shifting the focus to postseason play beginning on Tuesday:

"I'm so proud of the guys, but now we get geared up for the Region 11 Tournament," Potter said. "Now we focus on Iowa Central or Southeastern on Tuesday. The job is not done, as we learned last year. We have big things ahead and I'm excited to see the story that these guys continue to write. One day at a time and another step on the ladder."

UP NEXT:

The Hawks will play either Southeastern Community College or Iowa Central Community College in the Region 11 Tournament Semifinals at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Norfolk Veterans Memorial Field in Norfolk.

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