Saturday morning the Bears found themselves looking eye to eye with their last game of their 2014 season. Heading into the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II National Soccer Tournament as the #2 seed with a 15-1 record, the Barclay College faithful had high hopes of playing in the afternoon championship match, but a heartbreaking opening round loss last Wednesday meant that fifth place was the best they could do. The Bears took on Baptist Bible College (Clarks Summit, PA) for the finale to end the season in exciting fashion.

Just three minutes into the game, the Defenders of Trinity took an early 1-0 lead. The Bears calmly kept to the game plan despite the early deficit. In the 16th minute Junior Kingsley Assibey (Accra, Ghana) brought the Bears back even at 1-1 followed by a go-ahead goal by Freshman David Kearns (Eudora, KS) in the 41st minute. Both BC goals were assisted by Freshman Josh Moore (Houston, TX).

Less than 90 seconds into the second half Trinity was able to tie the game back up at 2-2. Freshman Julio Cobo (Katy, TX) got in on the action in the 56th minute to give the lead back to the Bears only to see Trinity match the goal in the 61st minute. 3-3 is where the game remained at the conclusion of regulation. In the first sudden death overtime, the Bears were able to pull off some more late game heroics. Cobo provided his second goal of the day, this time it was the golden goal in the 99th minute to give the Bears a 4-3 victory and a 5th place finish at nationals.

Sophomore Pedro Chavez (Lakin, KS) was named to the 2014 NCCAA Men’s Soccer DII All-Tournament Team for his defensive efforts and leadership.

The Bears concluded a stellar, recored breaking year. Their 17-2 finish was the most wins in school history as well as the highest winning percentage. Their 5th place finish was also their highest finish at the National Tournament.