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Wild finish propels Barton into National Championship match
Marcu v E Fla.jpg
Damen Marcu lets out a scream during a furious 3-minute stretch of Barton's semifinals match of the NJCAA Men's Soccer Championship. Barton defeated Eastern Florida State with a later flurry of goals, 4-2. - photo by COURTESY PHOTO

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With just less than eight minutes left in the semifinals of the NJCAA Men’s Soccer Championships, the Barton Cougars were looking at defeat.

Then came three wild minutes of soccer. Three minutes that changed the entire match. The three biggest minutes in the 18-year history of Barton soccer.

That three minute span turned a 1-goal deficit into a 4-2 win for the third seed Barton over fifth seeded Eastern Florida State. It also moved the Cougars into the National Championship game. Top seeded Pima won the other semifinal over No. 7 Monroe, 1-0. It will be first title game for Barton.

The Cougars trailed 2-1 the entire second half. The action was back-and-forth but good opportunities to score were few.

Then, with eight minutes left in the match, everything changed.

“We made a change with about 15 minutes to go,” Coach Mike Brown said. “We were in a 4-4-2 diamond and they had four guys back and one of the best center backs in the nation. We were only getting three on the attack to their four back.

“So we switched to a 3-4-3 which gave us three up front and and guys coming from the wings. It put us more in attack mode. I knew if we could make the game more chaotic, it was to our benefit.”

It started when Roberto Hernandez got the ball from Tevin Rochester and sent a pass into Damen Marcu about 15 yards out in the center of the field. Marcu collected the pass with his right foot, took it off a bounce and went between the legs of Eastern Florida goalkeeper Nour Moaoui to even the match at 2-all with 7:54.

“After the goal to tie it, the guys asked me if I wanted to go back. I said, no, let’s go it. You could just see their eyes light up. We were in attack mode.”

Just more than one minute later Barton thwarted a Titan attack on a corner kick and the Cougars countered.

Rochester slipped a pass to Marcu just outside the 18-yard box. Marcu sent a pass to Gabriel Arraes at the top box. Arraes took a dribble and fired the ball by Moaoui into the net and the Cougars had their first lead of the match with 6:29 to play.

The nail was delivered by Marcu soon after. First, Hernandez put a shot on goal, which was saved by Moaoui. Then, Arraes got a shot off that went off the keepers face. Finally Marcu cleaned it up with goal at 4:59 that clinched the Cougars a spot in the finals.

Whew.

“These guys just grind,” Coach Brown said. “If I get anything across to them I hope that is it. I’m not talking just soccer but in life. If things aren’t going your way, just keep grinding. You have to overcome. Things in life may not go your way, but you have to keep grinding and overcome it.”

Barton hardly broken a sweat when it found itself down 1-0.

It took just three minutes for the Titans to get a lead. Sebastian Joffre scored the first of his two goals to put Eastern Florida up.

But Barton has been down before and did not panic.

It was almost 2-0 in the opening 10 minutes. A header off a corner kick caught Barton out of position, but Hiroo Kimura was in goal to keep a goal out with a header of his own. Then Baeza came up with a big save of his own a few minutes later to keep the Cougars down a single goal.

Those two moments were big because the Cougars got the equalizer with 20 minutes left in the half. Chris Camilli fired a rifle shot from about 30 yards that beat the Eastern Florida keeper top shelf in the far right corner of the goal.

Eastern Florida regained the lead in the final minutes of the opening half on a penalty kick by Joffre with 3:24 before intermission.

That is how the match stayed until those fateful three minutes by the Cougars.

The win also ended the title run of former Barton coach and current Eastern Florida coach Oliver Twelvetrees.

“I feel bad for him,” Coach Brown said. “He is one of my favorite people. I respect him so much. He is an outstanding coach and they are an outstanding team.”

Pima won the other semifinal match, scoring a second half goal on a penalty kick for a 1-0 win.


3 Barton 4, 5 Eastern Fla 3

Eastern Fla           2  0 – 2

Barton                    1  3 – 4

Eastern Florida  – Joffre (Gonzalez), 3:04

Barton – Camilli, 25:47

Eastern Florida – Joffre (PK), 41:36

Barton – Marcu (Hernandez), 82:06

Barton – Arraes (Marcu), 83:31

Barton – Marcu (rebound), 85:01

NJCAA Soccer National Championships

At Daytona Beach, Fla.

Championship – Saturday, Nov. 17

1 Pima (25-2) v 3 Barton (21-1-2), 2 pm

Semifinals - Friday, Nov. 16

1 Pima 1, 7 Monroe 0

3 Barton 4, 5 Eastern Fla 2

Pool play – Nov 12-14

Pool A - 1 Pima (22-2); 8 Northeast Texas (16-2-2), 12 Muskegon (12-2)

Nov 12 – Pima 5, Muskegon 0

Nov 13 – NE Texas 5, Muskegon 0

Nov 14 – Pima 3, NE Texas 2 (OT)

Pool B - 2 Tyler (18-2), 7 Monroe (10-1-2); 11 CCBC Essex (13-5-2)

Nov 12 – Tyler 5, Essex 1

Nov 13 – Monroe 6, Essex 0

Nov 14 –Monroe 2, Tyler 0

Pool C – 3 Barton (18-1-2), 6 Georgia Military (14-2-1), 10 St. Louis (18-3)

Nov 12 – Barton 3, St Louis 0

Nov 13 – St. Louis 2, Ga Military 1 (OT)

Nov 14 – Barton 4, Ga Military 3

Pool D – 4 Marshalltown (17-1-1), 5 Eastern Florida (14-4), 9 Cowley (17-1)

Nov 12 – Marshalltown 2, Cowley 0

Nov 13 – Eastern Fla 4, Cowley 0

Nov 14 – Eastern Fla 0, Marshalltown 0 (E Fla advances 4-3 on PKs)