The Howard Community College (HCC) men's soccer program topped Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in the Region XX/ District championship Sunday 2-1 to advance to the national tournament for the first time since 2011.

HCC and NOVA both faced off for the first time this season on September 5th  in a game which ended at 76:21 due to weather conditions.  In the matchup, NOVA won on a PK in the first half, which initially was saved, but was re-kicked due to an HCC infraction and NOVA capitalized.  Since that game, the Dragons wanted a rematch with the Nighthawks to avenge their early season loss.

NOVA entered the game 11-2-1 as the top seed and HCC just behind at 12-5-1 as the second seed.  The Dragons come into the match after beating the ninth-ranked team in the country Prince George's Community College on Friday 2-1.  On the other side, the Nighthawks enter the game after defeating a struggling Montgomery team which had dropped out of the national rankings in penalty kicks.  

HCC came out of the gates firing on all cylinders attacking NOVA's back line and goaltender consistently in the first minutes of the game.  From the opening moment of play, it was apparent that the Dragons came to play.  In the 11' minute Andrew Bailey of NOVA collided hard with HCC's netminder Simon Bradford (Columbia, MD/Hammond) who was making a play on a ball, which seemed to ignite the Dragons.  Just a few minutes later, in the 18' minute of play, Cristian Alfaro (Columbia, MD/Reservoir) would score his third goal of the tournament to put HCC on top.  Daniel Fuentes (Clarksville, MD/River Hill) sent the ball into the box off of the corner, and the ball bouncing around loose in the box got sent out in a failed clear attempt by NOVA, which Alfaro volleyed the ball to himself and sent a firecracker of a shot into the lower portion of the goal past the NOVA keeper.

Entering the second half up 1-0 HCC was looking to continue to pressure NOVA to extend its lead.  In the 60' minute Gabriel Rojas (Ellicott City, MD/U.E San Luis (Venezuela)) would do just that giving the Dragons some much-needed insurance as it proved to be the game-winning goal.  Rojas' chance came on a free kick just outside of the 18-yard box, which was awarded to HCC off of a mental error from the NOVA goaltender for stepping outside of the 18 with the ball in his hands.  Rojas who took many free kicks throughout the season for HCC made the most of this attempt as he slotted the ball under the NOVA wall and past the outstretched keeper.  Late in the 88' minute of play NOVA's Gabriel Rickman sent a ball into the box near midfield, which found Jose Marin for the goal.  The Dragons kept clearing the ball down the field in the final minute of play to close out the game and pull out the victory against the top seed in the region and 10th ranked team in the nation.
With the win, the Dragons will advance to the national tournament, which is hosted by Herkimer College in New York between November 9-12.  Stay tuned for more information regarding seeding and game times.