Daytona Beach, FL – For the first time in program history, the Indian Hills Men's Soccer team is headed to the national championship as the 8th seeded Warriors knocked off No. 3 seed Cowley College (KS) 2-1 in the semifinal round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men's Soccer National Tournament Thursday morning.
Competing in the semifinal round for just the second time in school history, the Warriors punched their ticket to the national championship Saturday afternoon in Daytona Beach, FL. The Warriors will learn their opponent later in the day Thursday as tournament host and No. 4 seed Daytona State College (FL) and No. 7 Mohave Community College (AZ) will match up at 12:00 PM CT.
The Warriors used two first half goals from the team's leading scorer, freshman Enzo de Almeida (Foz do Iguacu, Brazil/Colegio Silva Batista) to surge past the Tigers and advance to the national championship. Cowley tallied a late score in the closing minutes of the second half, but the Indian Hills defense held off a late push from the Tigers to secure the win.
HAVE A DAY, ENZO ��@ihccmsoc takes a 2-0 halftime lead over Cowley in the @NJCAA_Soccer National Semifinal behind two goals from Enzo de Almeida!
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) November 20, 2025
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�� https://t.co/IJNcU6bIFH#WeAreWarriors #WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/HeIUygp2gn
Freshman Matteo Malaguti (Mantova, Italy/Liceo Isabella d'este Mantova) stood tall in net for the Warriors behind a solid defensive presence from Vittorio Bellesi (Breno, Italy/Olivelli Putelli), Kira Fukuda (Hiroshima, Japan/Setouchi), Sakutaro Matsuura (Aichi, Japan/Kaishu Gakuen JSC), and Rodrigo Velasco (Palma, Spain/Santa Maria). The Tigers fired a game-high 12 shots, but just two on target.
de Almeida provided the heroics with his ninth and 10th goals of the season in the span of less than 10 minutes. de Almeida's first strike came at the 11:08 mark after burying a strike from 25 yards out on an assist from Joseph Redmond (Basingstoke, England/Basingstoke Academy). The freshman earned the brace with a close-range strike at the 20:12 mark to double up the Warriors' lead.
The Warriors prevailed down the stretch due in large part to the sound defensive front from the backline. Despite the Tigers' goal with 7:16 to play, Indian Hills kept Cowley out of striking distance to close out the match.
Indian Hills, who has made back-to-back trips to the national semifinal in consecutive years under second-year head coach Zac Newton, will look to capture the program's first-ever national title Saturday afternoon.
Fans can catch all of the action live:
- Video: ESPN+ ($)
- Audio: GoHillsTV (Free)
NEW YEAR - WHAT TO KNOW
Fans can keep up the Indian Hills Men's Soccer squad all year long through a number of ways:
- X (formerly Twitter): @IHCCAthletics | @IHCCMsoc
- Facebook: Indian Hills Athletics | Indian Hills Men's Soccer
- Instagram: @IHCCMSOC | @IHCCAthletics
- Youtube: Indian Hills Athletics
- Website: www.indianhillsathletics.com
- Catch up with the history of Indian Hills Men's Soccer: Indian Hills Men's Soccer Record Book | Indian Hills Men's Soccer All-Time Awards
- Keep up with former Indian Hills Men's Soccer standouts and where they are now | Next Level Warriors - Indian Hills Men's Soccer
- All home games are played at IHCC Soccer Comlpex on the Indian Hills Ottumwa campus
- Admission to all home matches is free of charge
HOW TO WATCH
As always, GoHillsTV provides free live broadcasts of all Indian Hills home men's soccer games. Fans can tune in a number of ways all season long:
- GoHillsTV App: Download the Iowa Media Network app on your android or ios device and navigate to the GoHillsTV section
- Website: https://www.iowamedianetwork.com/gohillstv to catch all live and archived information
- Roku Streaming Device (new): Have a Roku TV or streaming stick? Download the GoHillsTV app to start streaming today!
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