North Idaho College secured a spot in the Region 18 men's soccer championship following a 1-0 win over third-seeded Utah State-Eastern on Thursday at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah. The victory allows the second-seeded Cardinals to advance to the final to face top-seeded Salt Lake.
Jabari Holtkamp scored the decisive goal in the 35th minute of the match, assisted by sophomore Lennox Kern. The freshman midfielder from Portsmouth, Va., helped North Idaho College achieve the win despite Utah State-Eastern goalkeeper Xavier Peregrina making two saves and the Cardinals recording three shots on goal. Taylor Corpron recorded six saves for North Idaho College during the semifinal match.
In the other semifinal held on Thursday, Salt Lake defeated fourth-seeded Snow College with a score of 4-1. The championship match between North Idaho College and Salt Lake is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT. While Salt Lake won the conference title last Saturday with a 3-0 win over North Idaho College, NIC coach Brad Williams stated that the team believes they can match the competition in this matchup.
North Idaho College, currently ranked 10th in the latest NJCAA poll, previously tied with Salt Lake 1-1 on Sept. 26 in Worley. The winner of Saturday's championship match will automatically qualify for the NJCAA Championships, which are scheduled for Nov. 15-21 in Wichita, Kan. The runner-up may qualify for one of four at-large bids to the 12-team championship tournament, which will be announced next week.
Utah State-Eastern finished the match with a record of 10-5-4. The Region 18 men's soccer tournament semifinals also included a women's division where Salt Lake defeated Utah State-Eastern 2-0 and Snow defeated Southern Idaho 5-1 on Thursday.
The women's championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. between Snow and Salt Lake.
