Posted: Jun 03, 2021

Men's Soccer: Knights Invade Kansas, Ready for Division II National Tournament

By Rocco Geppi

Wichita, Kan. -- The Knights landed in Wichita, Kan. late last night, as the No. 2 seed prepares for the NJCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championships.

CCBC Essex will begin pool play on Saturday against St. Charles and will take on Prairie State on Sunday. Both games are scheduled for 8 p.m.

Essex (9-0) has made an impressive run through the regular and postseason so far this year.

Outscoring opponents 54-6 and capturing its ninth straight Region 20 title, in addition to the Mid-Atlantic District, earned the Knights an automatic bid to the tournament.

While opponents on the national level may prove to be more competitive than others faced this season, head coach Joe Fiedler and his staff are keeping the message to their team simple.

"We need to play our game," said Fiedler, who has now led five Knights men's soccer teams to a national tournament (2018, 2016, 2014, 2016). "The result will take care of itself if we play our game."

The Knights' game this season has been the ability to "spread the love" and play stellar defense.

Six student-athletes have scored five goals or more, and the team's leading scorer, Toga Katsuma (Honshu, Japan), has nine tallies.

Taki Murakawa (Hyogo, Japan) is second on the team with seven goals and with seven assists, he leads the team with 21 points.

Henry Ortiz (Mt. Airy, Md.) is third with six goals, followed by Marvin Martinez (Riverdale, Md.), Sam Mejia (Riverdale, Md.) and Andy Portillo (Laurel, Md.), who have five each.

The Knights defense has played exceptionally well this year.

This includes eight games of four or fewer shots on goal, three of which were one or less.

Essex's back line is anchored by Ethan Stewart (Fairfax, Va.), Dennis Banegas-Torres (Springfield, Va.), Rin Yasui (Miyagi, Japan) and Kota Tsuchisawa (Honshu, Japan).

Gavin Greene (Forest Hill, Md.) also played a prominate role on defense, before an injury sidelined him in early May.

Between the pipes, transfer Brendan LeMaster (Bowie, Md.) has played inspired, stopping 21 of the 24 shots he's faced.

His 0.41 goals against average is the second best in NJCAA Division II.

"The keys to us advancing in the national tournament are taking our chances and defending as a team," Fiedler said. "We need to keep the ball moving and be smart."

Should the Knights advance to the knock-out round, the semifinals will be on June 9 and national championship game on June 10.