Nova Southeastern’s men’s soccer team enters its first NCAA tournament close to home
A trip to West Palm Beach isn’t long enough.
Not for the Nova Southeastern University men’s soccer team, which has qualified for the Division II NCAA tournament for the first time in program history … only to get sent to a regional just 50 minutes from its Fort Lauderdale campus.
“The boys love being around each other,” NSU coach Matt Watts said. “They were annoyed it was such a short trip [to the regionals]. They wanted a trip to Georgia or North Carolina. They wanted more time to hang out with each other more.”
The good news for the NSU Sharks is that the national championships would be a long road trip for them — set for Colorado Springs, Colorado, Dec. 9 (semifinals) and Dec. 11 (final).
But to get there, the Sharks will have to win two games in West Palm Beach this weekend — against Coker (12-6-2) on Friday and Palm Beach Atlantic (13-2) on Sunday — and then two more Dec. 2-5 at a site to be determined.
NSU (13-3-2) certainly has a shot at going far. They are 8-0-1 since losing 4-0 to Palm Beach Atlantic on Oct. 6 and 1-0 to Tampa three days later.
Last week, the Sharks won three consecutive games to take the Sunshine State Conference championship, avenging those losses to PBA and Tampa.
In the SSC semifinals, the Sharks scored two goals in the final 3:29 to knock off PBA, 2-1. PBA is ranked second in the nation.
In the conference final, NSU upset ninth-ranked Tampa, 4-1. NSU’s Matty Cornish scored his team-high 10th goal of the season in that game, earning MVP honors for the SSC tournament.
NSU’s other standouts are midfielder Tobias Pellio, who joined Cornish on first-team All-SSC; and defender Farid Sar-Sar, who made second team.
Alberto Ciroi, who has started all 18 of NSU’s games, is the goalie. He has allowed only 19 goals this season.
Watts, a London native who is in his fifth season as NSU’s coach, has an international team. Cornish is from England, Pellio is from Germany, Sar-Sar is from Argentina; and Ciroi is from Italy.
In addition, Floris Van Nijnanten, who had the tying goal against PBA, is from Netherlands; and Aleks Berg, who had the winning goal in that game, is from Norway.
There also players on the team born in Spain, Venezuela, Austria, Sweden, Curacao and the U.S.
Perhaps that eclectic mix of cultures explains why the Sharks are 7-0 on the road this season. They just love taking trips and bonding.
“On road trips, everything else gets blocked out,” Watts said. “From our 28th man to our first, they all get along, and it’s infectious.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ The women’s volleyball team at Miami Dade College, which won the state championship earlier this month, will start the 16-team national championships on Thursday in Hutchinson, Kansas. MDC, seeded third, will face 14th-seeded Jefferson in its opener.
▪ St. Thomas’ men’s soccer team (13-0-2) is ranked fifth in the nation and will open the NAIA playoffs on Thursday with a home match against Cal-Merced. STU forward Fernando Arzeno was named the Sun Conference Player of the Year.
▪ STU’s women’s soccer team (12-5-2) will open its NAIA playoff run in West Palm Beach on Thursday against Cumberland (Tennessee).
▪ STU finished its third football season with a program-record nine wins. The Bobcats (9-2) improved by four wins over each of their first two years.
▪ Florida Memorial, which brought back its program in 2020 after a 62-year hiatus, went 0-3 last season and 2-9 this year. Freshman running back George Young led FMU with 833 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
▪ Barry midfielder Juan Caffaro, a native of Argentina, was named the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year. He was also named first-team all-league after posting team highs in goals (nine) and assists (seven).
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 4:21 PM.