Asheville, NC – The 2012 USCAA Soccer National Championships have concluded and the Daemen College Lady Wildcats and Briarcliffe College Bulldogs have been crowned as the USCAA women’s and men’s soccer National Champions. Daemen College defeated the University of Maine-Fort Kent Bengals in overtime 1-0. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs were able to hold off the West Virginia University Institute of Technology Golden Bears 2-1 in the men’s soccer final.
University of Maine-Fort Kent entered the women’s final as the easy favorite. The two-time defending National Champion Bengals had yet to taste defeat on the 2012 season, including three victories over the Daemen College Wildcats. However, all three games were hard fought one goal Fort-Kent victories and set the stage for another close game. The two teams didn’t disappoint. Neither team was able to find the back of the goal in the first 90 minutes of play, marking the second time Daemen College and Maine-Fort Kent would turn to overtime to decide a winner on the year. In the 95th minute Tournament MVP Kim Obermeier scored for the Wildcats and completed the upset. Leading Daemen College in their first appearance at the tournament were Obermeier, Alexa Amato, Samantha Engel, Kelsey O’Leary, Hannah Fraser, and goalkeeper Kayla Hampton.
Briarcliffe capped off an emotional week with an impressive performance against a Golden Bears team that looked unstoppable in victories over Penn College and SUNY-ESF. Briarcliffe jumped out to an early lead with goals from Andres Zulauga and Giancarlo Luna before WVU Tech got on the board with a penalty kick from Dennis Furst after a penalty on Briarcliffe goalkeeper Gustavo CiFuentes. From there the vaunted Briarcliffe College defense, which entered the game having given up only six goals on the year, took over and secured Brarcliffe’s second ever USCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship.
The Bulldogs, from Long Island, New York, braved the aftermaths of Hurricane Sandy that devastated the island to board a bus for Asheville. Twenty-seven hours later, after the bus broke down and struck a deer in route, they finally arrived leaving behind family and friends who are without power and some of whom have had their houses flooded. Hardships aside, the Bulldogs were led in the tournament by CiFuentes, the 2012 Men’s Soccer Tournament MVP, Giancarlo Luna, Hector Guerrero, Andres Zulauga, and Troy Antonacci.
For individual box scores for championship games and to view the final brackets please visit our Women’s Soccer Championship Page and Men’s Soccer Tournament Page.
-USCAA