Seward Soccer Picked 6th In Year Two

After winning last year’s NJCAA Plains District Title and an automatic berth into the 2023 NJCAA Division 1 men’s soccer national tournament, Cowley Community College has been picked to win the 2024 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division 1 men’s soccer preseason order of finish as voted on by league coaches on Tuesday, August 13.

Earning 48 total points and six of seven first-place votes, Cowley is coming off a 16-4-1 overall record last season while going 1-0-1 in the NJCAA Division 1 National Tournament after being put in Pool D with eventual National Champion Monroe Community College. The Tigers outscored opponents 73-17 last season, playing their last six games of the year unbeaten after suffering a three-game losing streak in early October to make it to the National Tournament for a third straight year. Two returning All-KJCCC selections for Cowley Andre Ecker and Takeru Chiba will return for 2024 for the Tigers.

Reigning KJCCC Division 1 men’s soccer regular-season champion Barton Community College has been picked to finish second with 41 points after winning the program’s 12th KJCCC Title last year as part of an 18-4-4 overall record and 9-1-2 mark in the KJCCC. Finishing as the Plains District runner-up last year, Barton received an at-large bid into the 2023 NJCAA Division 1 men’s soccer national tournament where the Cougars went 1-1 in pool play and into a tiebreaker scenario where BCC avenged a loss to Indian Hills with a 4-3 win in penalty kicks before falling to Salt Lake Community College 1-0 in a game that sent the winner into the National Semifinals.

A tie for third in the preseason order of finish saw both Dodge City and Kansas City Kansas Community College earn 28 points with the Conquistadors receiving the lone remaining first-place vote following a third-place finish last year as part of a 10-5-2 overall record. KCKCC went 7-6-3 last season and defeated the Conquistadors in the Region VI Playoffs opening round before seeing their season end with a defeat to Barton.

The rest of the poll saw Garden City picked fourth with 20 total points under first-year head coach Oscar Zelaya followed by second-year program Seward County (18 points) picked sixth and Coffeyville (13 points) picked seventh.