By Nick Novy/Cincinnati State Sports Information
 
Cincinnati, OH---Hosting Owens Community College the NJCAA Region XII final on Sunday, the Cincinnati State men's soccer team claimed a 3-0 victory over the Express to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament for the third time in four seasons.
 
Cincinnati State, the No. 1 seed in the region, opened the scoring in the 18th minute when sophomore Kyle Grothaus scored his second goal of the postseason and team leading 17th on the season. Owens, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, were unable to accumulate any shots on target in the first half as the score remained 1-0 at halftime.

In the second half, sophomores David Elwer and Brad Gale gave the Surge a 2-0 lead at the 65th minute mark. Elwer dribbled past two Owens defenders and crossed the ball to the far post, finding Gale who headed the ball past Owens goalie Ryan Wicher and into the back of the net. In the 82nd, freshman forward Abdirahman Aden put the Surge up 3-0 with his first goal of the season off a set up from Liam Doyle.
 
The Surge defense held Owens to just 3 shots on net as Cincinnati State goalkeeper Ryan Hall claimed his second postseason shutout.
 
"Earning back to back appearances in the national tournament is something that no previous team at Cincinnati State has ever done," Cincinnati State head coach Mike Combs said. "I am so proud of this group of players. They have worked hard to get to this point. Our next step is to bring back the first national title in school history."
 
With the win, Cincinnati State earned back-to-back regional titles and claimed a spot in the upcoming NJCAA National Tournament in Tyler, TX, which will begin on Nov. 18.
 
 
 
 
Sunday's Box Score - stats.njcaa.org/sports/msoc/2013-14/div1/boxscores/20131103_xcj1.xml
 
 
For more information on Cincinnati State soccer, please visit - http://www.cincinnatistate.edu/on-campus/athletics/mens-soccer-1
 
 

   ABOUT CINCINNATI STATECincinnati State (www.cincinnatistate.edu) offers more than 100 associate degree and certificate programs in business technologies, health and public safety, engineering technologies, humanities and sciences and information technologies. Cincinnati State has one of the largest cooperative education programs in the United States.