Category: College

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer Loses in NJCAA National Title Game


–photo courtesy of CCBC Essex Athletics-

Essex Men’s Soccer lost on penalty kicks in the NJCAA National Championship game against Pima Community College 3 to 2 on Saturday night.

The Knights fell behind 1 to 0 for the second game in a row but they came back as Toga Katsuma scored two goals late in the first half of the title game to give CCBC Essex a 2 to 1 lead.

Pima added a goal near the end of the half to tie the game 2 to 2 at halftime.

No team scored again in the second half or in both overtime sessions until Pima won on penalty kicks.

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer to Play for National Title Tonight


–photo courtesy of NJCAA-

CCBC Essex Men’s soccer will play tonight for the national championship against Pima Community College at 5 p.m. in Wichita, Kan.

According to CCBC Essex Athletics Facebook page, the Knights defeated St. Charles Community College 2-1 on Friday night after Sam Diaz scored the game winning game with header in the 70th minute off a rebound.

The semifinal game was scoreless at halftime and CCBC Essex trailed 1-0 in the second half until Kota Tsuchisawa tied the game on a rebound goal in the 67th minute. Kazuma Ishizuka had the assist.

Knight goal Brenden LeMaster had four saves in the win.

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer Advances in Playoff


-photo by Rocco Geppi-

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer advances to the next round of the NJCAA Division II Men’s Soccer tournament after defeating Heartland Community College of Illinois 1 to 0 in Wichita, Kan.

The Knight won after Ethan Stewart scored a goal in the 86th minute. Andy Portillo had the assist.

CCBC Essex will next play against Carl Sandburg College in the Round of Eight Wednesday at noon.

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer Wins Regional Title

Knights to play in national tournament in Wichita, Kan


-Article by Devon Douglas & photo by Rocco Geppi-

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer defeated the Howard Dragons 3-0 on Saturday to capture their 10th consecutive NJCAA Region 20 title and second straight NJCAA Mid-Atlantic Division II championship.

With the victory, the No. 1 ranked Knights earned an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championships tournament in Wichita, Kan. The tournament will run November 15-21.

Sophomore midfielder Andy Portillo (Laurel, Md.) scored the first goal of the match in the 49th minute after he dribbled past a few Howard players and drove the ball perfectly into the top right corner from the left side of the field, 20 yards out.

Portillo has been one of the Knights target men this season and is the team’s third leading goal scorer with nine goals.

Portillo’s goal gave the Knights (16-1) the momentum they needed, as they were finding chance after chance on goal.

Howard had trouble winning the ball from the Knights and growing frustrations led to fouls.

Just seven minutes after the Knight’s first goal, sophomore midfielder Sam Mejia (Riverdale, Md.) scored on a free kick from 25 yards out, also placing the ball in the top right corner.

Sophomore forward Sam Diaz (Lanham, Md.) capped the Knight’s scoring in the 77th minute on an assist from freshman forward Michael Adekanmbi (Bowie, Md.)

Sophomore goalkeeper Brenden LeMaster (Bowie, Md.) displayed a good performance for the Knights, as he saw more action this game with five shots coming his way.

It seems when these two programs meet, the match narrative is intensity and the result is decided late in the match.

Earlier this season, the Knights defeated the Dragons 2-1 in overtime after sophomore defender Kota Tsuchisawa (Yaita, Japan) won the game by way of a 97th minute golden goal.

This matchup was more of the same in the first half, as both teams found opportunities on goal and displayed good defensive shape.

However, in the second half the Knights found a way to expose Howard and take complete control of the match.

Ethan Stewart (Fairfax, Va.), Mejia, Portillo, Toga Katsuma (Honshu, Japan) and LeMaster all earned All-Region 20 Division II Tournament Team honors.

The Knights now have two weeks to prepare for the national championship tournament.

With added depth this season, CCBC Essex looks to improve over the spring season’s national runner-up finish and earn their first national championship since 1974.

Local Athletes Help CCBC Essex in Cross Country


Article by Emily Vetri of CCBC Essex

Knights cross country traveled Oct. 2 to its fourth meet of the season, the Don Cathcart Invitational, hosted by Salisbury University, as both teams featured runners shattering their personal best times.

“Both the men and women had big personal bests today and ran great races on the super flat and fast course” said head coach Noah Hutton.

Freshman Madison Magaha (Patapsco) led the ladies with a time of 27:49 in the women’s 6K, finishing #7 overall. This moved her into the seventh fastest time at Essex for the women’s side.

Natalia Johnson (Sparrows Point) ran a swift 31:04 in the women’s 6K, moving her to the 14th fastest time at Essex.

Both Magaha and Johnson ran the first 5K of the race faster than any other 5K time this year, with Johnson (Sparrows Point) cutting almost two minutes off her 5K best.

On the men’s side, freshman Braden Berkey (Loch Raven) led the men with the third fastest freshman time and the sixth fastest 8K time in school history, finishing at 29:30.

Berkey now sits within 25 seconds of the third fastest 8K time at Essex.

Sam Smith (Eastern Tech) ran a 30:53 in the 8K, shattering his personal best by nearly two and a half minutes. He has moved up to the 13th fastest 8K in school history.

Patrick Bennett (Patapsco) ran a 35:04 and knocked eight seconds off his personal best. With this time Bennett moved up to the 20th in school history.

Isaiah Halley (Overlea) dropped 40 seconds off his personal best with 35:09 in the 8K.

“Hopefully the fast times will help to build confidence and provide extra energy to finish the season strong” Hutton said.

Both men’s and women’s cross country will finish out the regular season at the Hood Invitational on October 16th, before heading to the Region 20 and Maryland JUCO Championships at the end of the month.

CCBC Essex Beats CCBC Catonsville in Mens Soccer

–Article by Isaac Donsky of CCBC Essex-

CCBC Essex Knights men’s soccer improved to 4-0 in Region 20 Division II play on Saturday after taken down the rival CCBC Catonsville 7-0 at Joseph P. Murray Stadium.

Essex is now 5-0 against the Cardinals over the last three seasons.

In a rematch of last season’s NJCAA Division II Region 20 Championship, the Knights (7-1) scored five goals in the final 15 minutes. 

Catonsville (5-3-1) kept the game close through the first 75 minutes, trailing only 2-0 at the half thanks to a strong defensive effort.

The Knights (7-1) struck first in the 15th minute when freshman midfielder Kazuma Ishizuka  slipped past two Cardinal defenders and fired a deep shot that sailed into the net.

Down 1-0, the Cardinals had a chance to equalize immediately in the 17th minute, but freshman midfielder Williams Yami’s shot bounced off the crossbar.

Catonsville got another chance in the 24th minute when awarded a penalty kick.

Cardinals freshman forward Christian Angel’s shot was stopped by a diving save from Knights sophomore goalkeeper Brendan LeMaster.

LeMaster finished the game with three saves, on the way to his fifth shutout of the season.

The Cardinals would continue to aggressively attack throughout the first half, with several opportunities to score emerging in the 35th and 36th minutes.

In both cases, it was Yami taking the shots, but LeMaster denied him both times.

The score remained 1-0 entering the half, as both teams had performed admirably on defense.

This defensive play continued at the start of the second half, with neither team adding any goals until the 61st minute.

Essex sophomore forward Sam Diaz sent a pass from freshman forward Michael Adekanmbi  off the crossbar into the back of the goal, increasing the Knights lead to 2-0.

The game remained close until about 15 minutes remaining in regulation when Essex exploded for five goals in rapid succession.

Ishizuka added his second goal of the game off a deflection by the Cardinals in the 74th minute, then fired a pass that freshman forward Henry Ortiz buried in the back of the net one-minute later to make it 4-0. 

Catonsville would attempt to respond in the 79th minute when sophomore forward Mike Vasquez broke loose from his defender, but his shot sailed over the net.

The Knights added three more goals in the final five minutes, with Adekanmbi, sophomore midfielder Toyosi Osemobor and freshman forward Noe Kabre (Perry Hall High School) each scoring to make the final tally 7-0.

Next up for the Knights is another road match, tomorrow against College of Southern Maryland. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

CCBC Essex Women’s Soccer Loses to Monroe


-Article by Devon Douglas of CCBC Essex-

The No. 14 NJCAA Division II Knights lost this past Saturday 7-0 to Division I No. 8 Monroe College at CCBC Essex Stadium. It’s the first time this season Essex was shutout and their second straight home defeat.

From the opening whistle, Monroe (4-1) controlled the tempo of the game. The Knights (5-2) had a good opportunity in the beginning of the first half, but Mustangs goalkeeper Stefane Rosa made the save. CCBC Essex had only a handful possessions in the first half, but Monroe’s technical skills thwarted most scoring chances.

The Mustangs played simple and technical throughout the match, using the width of the field and feeding players wide to create space for its midfielders. Monroe found the back of the net three times in the first thirty minutes of play. Each goal was created through great build up play and slotted home for easy finishes.

Perry Hall High Grad Kara Dietrich came into the match with 19 goals this season. Monroe limited the Knights top goal scorer to a season-low two shots on goal. Dietrich tried to create chances for her team throughout the match, but the Mustangs defense defended the opportunities well.

Essex back and Perry Hall grad Aya Neal was one of the Knights stand out players of the match. The sophomore led the back line vocally and her strong defense play frustrated the Mustangs. Despite the final score, Neal showed determination and began playing up in the attack to create goal-scoring opportunities.

The last four goals of the match were conceded midway through the second half. Two of the tallied came from Luana Grabias who finished with hat trick, having scored once in the first half as well.

Despite conceding seven goals, Knights goalkeeper Sydney Baker (Glen Burnie, Md.) played admirably, tallying seven saves. Monroe finished with 25 shots, 15 on goal.

Next Up

The Knights travel to CCBC Catonsville this Saturday to take on the Cardinals.

It’s CCBC Athletics Hall of Fame weekend, has Essex’s sibling campus is set to induct its 2007 National Championship women’s soccer team. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.

CCBC Essex Men’s Soccer Drops First Game of Season


-Article & photo by Devon Douglas of CCBC Essex –

The NJCAA Division II No. 1 ranked Knights lost their first match of the season this past Saturday to Division I No. 11 Monroe College 6-2 at CCBC Essex Stadium.

Toga Katsuma (Honshu, Japan) and Henry Ortiz (Mount Airy, Md.) scored the Knights only goals of the game.

CCBC Essex set the tempo first, retaining possessions the most and looked like the better team for the first ten minutes of play. The Knights (5-1) missed a header off the post just three minutes into play on what proved to be their best opportunity of the first half. Monroe (3-1) settled into their tactics and the momentum started to shift.

The first goal of the game came in the 26th minute of play after Monroe’s Liam Murray connected on a free kick.
Only one more goal was scored in the first half that came just before halftime in the 43rd minute off the foot of Ivan Silic. CCBC Essex conceded four goals in the second half, three of which were within six minutes of each other between the 72nd and 78th minutes of play.

Katsuma and Ortiz scored just 26 seconds apart with ten minutes left in the match. Katsuma is tied for the team lead with four goals and Ortiz is tied second with three.

Knights sophomore goalkeeper Brendan LeMaster (Bowie) was tested throughout and finished the game with eight saves.

Next Up

The Knights look to get back on track on Thursday when they host Alleghany College of Maryland. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.