NJCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament Preview
The MCC Men’s Soccer allowed just three goals over 16 games this season and enter this weekend’s NJCAA Division III Region 21 Tournament with a 14-1-1 record and the number one seed.
That doesn’t mean Cougar Head Coach Jim Insinga thinks defending the title is a sure thing.
“Benjamin Franklin tied Bunker Hill, they come here and they tie us and we had a 1-0 game against Bunker Hill,” Insinga said after assessing the action in the final week of the regular season. “This could be anybody’s tournament.”
The Cougars play no. 4 Springfield Tech (6-9-1) Saturday at 11 AM in the first game at the McCormick complex on the MCC campus. No. 2 Benjamin Franklin IT (7-4-3) squares off against no. 3 Bunker Hill (9-5-1) in the 2 PM game. The winner of each game returns to MCC Sunday at 1 PM for the championship and the right to represent New England in the District 3 Championship at the home field of the Region 15 champion on November 7th. The winner of that game moves on to the NJCAA National Tournament in Herkimer, NY on November 14th and 15th.
MCC is led by goalkeeper Hami Kara, a former state champion and all-state selection from Wethersfield, who is tops among all NJCAA Division III keepers with a 0.22 GAA. Kara, who had four complete game shutouts and shared eight others, has had plenty of help from his defenders, including 2008 Cheney Tech graduate Ken Rossignol (six assists) and Waterbury native Addison Duarte.
In the preseason, Insinga thought the team would be successful if it could keep the goals against below 20. But Kara and his backfield mates have worked hard in practice, which carried over to the games.
“When the ball is in our half, we concentrate and never change our game,” Kara said before the team’s final practice before the tournament Thursday afternoon. “Whether we would put it 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, we always tried to keep our zero. Kenny and Addison have been a huge factor. There have been games where I’ve had to save them, but more of the games they have been saving me.” Kyle Hovey (Morris) and Lamine Toupou (Hartford) have been strong as outside backs while East Hartford High grad Bryant Bermudez has been strong in the midfield.
2008 NJCAA first team selection Mariusz Kurzatkowski, who scored 17 goals as a freshman on Insinga’s fifth Region 21 Championship team last fall, has taken on a more defensive role but his nine goals are tied for the team lead with freshman Giuseppe Panajia. Sophomores Daniel Boateng (East Hartford) and Frank Busumbru (South Windsor) have had excellent seasons in the offensive zone.
Enfield native Kevin Battista, whose goal in the penalty kick round in the District 3 championship in ’08 sent the Cougars to Richland, Texas for the 2008 National Tournament, has been slowed by injuries, but has contributed to the team’s success with 11 points (four goals, four assists).
“We have to take it like we have all season,” said Battista, who is a captain along with Kara and Rossignol. “We played them (Springfield Tech) twice and beat them twice, so we have to play it like every other game – don’t let up any goals, put a couple in and keep it on the clean sheet.”
Insinga has taken MCC to the national tournament twice (2002 and 2008) in ten seasons and has a 113-60-9 record.
