Robinson, Ill. - With some winter sports starting up, that means that fall sports are headed down their collective home stretch. For coach Gabe Carreno and the ICC men's soccer team, that starts tomorrow with their quest at defending their 2022 Region 24 Championship. Coach Carreno's Cougars will start out with no slouch of a matchup, meeting once again with a Lincoln Trail team that gave ICC quite the battle in a 2-1 ICC winner just over a week ago. This time, though, ICC heads south to Robinson's Statesmen Park to take on Lincoln Trail in the Region 24 Tournament Semifinal, the third matchup between the two programs this season (Season Series split 1-1). 

The Cougars are in what could be considered an ideal spot in terms of morale. They took a three-match win streak from October 8th-14th, and lost the regular season finale, a perfect timing to hit the 'reset' button for the postseason. 

Key players include goalkeeper Tomas Fontes, who's been relied on heavily in goal for the Cougars, totaling 1,355 minutes to this point of the season (2nd in the nation). Fontes has held the opposition to shutouts in four different games he's played in this season. Pertinent to this specific matchup, Fontes owns a season-high eight saves against the Statesmen in their most recent early-October meeting. 

On the attack, it's been a season that has its leaders, but overall, a balanced one. Yahir Meza's seven goals lead the way. Jesus Perez and Christopher Slack follow him with five goals apiece. Making his way onto the leaderboard with a hat trick versus Malcolm X is Joao Campos, who had an additional goal earlier in the season to bring his season total to four. Jonah Bijvank and Tycho Van Bareveld have both found an open net three times this fall. 

Obviously, to score goals, teammates, more often than not, are needed to assist in that scoring effort. Leading the way for the Cougars in that category include Carlos Lobo (7), Jama Ahmed (5), and Joao Campos (4). 

Another factor to potential postseason longevity is the ability for individuals like Coach Carreno to know he has a particular group of players to rely on. Fontes, Campos, and Bertram Jensen compile the group of ICC players that have at least appeared in all 16 matches in 2023 for the Cougars. 

Lastly, this isn't just a rematch in a sense of it being the third time these two squads have faced off in 2023, it's also a rematch from last year's region tournament, when the Cougars bested the Statesmen 2-1 in the 2022 Semifinal in East Peoria. 

THE ROAD TO WICHITA; HOW TO MAKE IT TO NATIONALS
Saturday, October 21st - 3:00 PM (Region Semifinal)
ICC @ Lincoln Trail

Saturday, October 28th - 12:00 PM (Region Championship)
ICC/LTC Winner @ #16 Lewis & Clark

Friday, November 3rd (District Semifinal)
Pairings TBD; Played at Region 11 Champion

Sunday, November 5th (District Championship)
Pairings TBD; Played at Region 11 Champion

Sunday, November 12th - Saturday, November 18th (Nationals)
Pairings TBD; Played at Wichita's Stryker Sports Complex