Kissimmee, Fla. – The Central Christian College Men's Soccer team faced the Westmont College Warriors today in the NCCAA National Semi-Finals. The Tigers come into the game off of a hard-fought draw with Carolina University. That draw gave them enough points to make it to the Semi-Finals. This would be a tough test for the Tigers as Westmont was the best goal scoring team in Pool Play and the only team to win both of their matches in Pool Play. The Tigers have embraced the underdog mentality all season and are no stranger to playing spoiler.

The Warriors struck first in the 14^th minute with a close-range goal where Tiger goalie TJ Foster came up to make a play but ended up getting what looked like a kick to the head. After a few minutes, he was helped off the field. Rodolfo Ramirez would be in goal for the Tigers for the remainder of the game.

Central looked for opportunities to attack and finally found one in the 34^th minute. Logan Singh found himself one on one with the keeper and sent a shot just past the Warrior's keeper to even the match at 1-1. Westmont would not let the Tigers gain any momentum as they continued to dominate the possession. Just nine minutes after Central tied the match, Westmont found themselves on a breakaway and were able to take the lead 2-1 in the 43^rd minute.

The Tigers were unable to even the score before halftime and went into the break down 2-1. Coming out of the break, the Tigers were aggressive and wanted to even the match early in the second half. In the 59^th minute, Camilo Penafil sent a shot from the left side into the top-left of the goal on what looked like an impossible angle. The shot found its way past the Westmont goalie and evened the score at 2-2.

With new life, Central aimed to keep up their high level of play against a stout Warrior defense. Westmont found themselves on the attack once more and in the 65^th minute would take the lead on a header shot that was just out of reach of Rodolfo Ramirez. With a 3-2 lead, and just 24 minutes remaining in the game, Central tried just about everything in search of another game-tying goal. Unable to do so, the Tigers would ultimately fall to the Westmont College Warriors 3-2 and see their incredible season come to an end. The Tigers finished the year at 12-5-5 and were ranked as high as 7th in the NCCAA this season.

When asked about his team's performance this season, Coach Aaron Hoxie said, "Hard to describe the emotions, as you can expect, they are strong. I told the boys that today is about choosing joy. Today is about celebrating the change, which is not a bad thing, but the change is for the good. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the kids lives."

"It was always going to be difficult today. 3 matches in less than 4 days, a player on a grade 1 hammie, 4 of them sick, and it was 90 at KO...on top of that, we sent a player to the hospital after the game to go get stapled up. Yet, what we can take away from this game is that none of these boys got emotional about it, they just went out and did what they could. These kids ran all season, and finally, the wall was too much to get over.  All of Tiger land should be proud of them, they represented very well."

"The foundation is in place for future Tiger generations. The standard exists, and it is high...but it exists. Going to be an interesting winter/spring. Thank you CCC."