North Central University Athletics

St. Bonifacius, MN -- Today, the North Central University (NCU) men's soccer team began their search for the NCCAA Division II North Regional Championship title. The Rams faced the Trinity Bible College (TBC) Lions for a round one play-in game, hosted by Crown College at Old National Bank Stadium. The Lions are a freshly established program, with this being just their second year with a soccer team. This afternoon, the Rams dominated the Lions with a historic 14-0 win to begin the postseason, featuring a hat trick from NCU freshman Adan Villareal.

NCU hit the ground running, with a goal from Ulrich Mvogo within the first 35 seconds of the match. Rody Cuate Torres doubled the lead with an assist from Adan Villarreal to make the score 2-0. North Central went on to set the tone for the rest of the match, scoring four goals within four minutes. Ulrich Mvogo, Santiago Grams, Adan Villarreal, and Elmer Polio Silva were goal scorers in this surge of points, with assists from Santiago Grams and Diego Zavala Varela. Ricardo Vera Martinez had back-to-back-to-back assists in the middle of the first half, bringing the score to 9-0. Before the conclusion of the first half, the Rams decided to go into halftime with a bang and put up one more score from Isaac Hinkle, his second of the afternoon, bringing the score to a daunting 10-0 going into haftime. 

The Ram's continued forward momentum coming back out in the second half. Santiago Grams surged forward once again with three more assists, leading Diego Zavala Varela and Adan Villarreal to put yet another three goals on the board, with a score of 13-0. To finalize the score, freshman Adan Villarreal put up an additional goal to complete his first career hat trick in the 61st minute. Neither of the NCU goalkeepers saw much action in this one, as Trinity only had 4 total shots, none of which were on target. After several shots from the Rams to attempt one last goal to finish things off, the match ended with a drastic victory for North Central, with a final score of 14-0 as they easily advanced to the semifinal round. 

Looking Ahead:

The Rams will continue to fight for a title, with a match-up against the #1 seeded Providence University-Manitoba Pilots. The match will be held once again at Old National Bank Stadium, with it scheduled for tomorrow Tuesday, November 12th at 1:00 PM.

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on men's soccer and all things NCU Athletics.