WARRIORS OPEN NATIONAL TOURNAMENT WITH 5-1 WIN
November 17, 2025
Daytona Beach, FL – The No. 10 ranked Indian Hills Men’s Soccer team opened its third consecutive trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men’s Soccer National Tournament in convincing fashion, routing 12th-seeded Montgomery College (MD) 5-1 Monday morning. The Warriors sit atop the Pool A standings after two days of action.
The Warriors erupted for four first half goals, including an opening strike just 90 seconds into the match to roll past the Raptors in Pool Play action. Indian Hills sits atop the standings with a 1-0-0 record while Montgomery falls to 1-1-0. Top-seeded and No. 1 nationally ranked Tyler Junior College (TX), who fell to Montgomery on Sunday 2-0, sits in third place with an 0-1-0 record.
Indian Hills will now look to punch its ticket to the semifinal round of the national tournament with its final Pool Play matchup Tuesday morning vs. Tyler at 8:30 CT / 9:30 AM ET. A win, tie, or loss by three goals or less for the Warriors will push Indian Hills to the Final Four for the second consecutive season.
The Warriors wasted no time in finding the back of the net as sophomore Leo Jaukovic (London, England/Fulham Boys School) broke free and delivered a strike from the top of the box at the 1:29 mark for the initial goal. Indian Hills doubled the lead on sophomore Joseph Redmond’s (Basingstoke, England/Basingstoke Academy) eighth goal of the season after beating the Montgomery keeper from close range.
The Raptors cut the deficit in half with a penalty kick goal at the 29:12 mark, but Indian Hills responded immediately as Bernardo Boeira Hanel (Canela, Brazil/Danton Correa da Silva) buried a strike off his own rebound to put the Warriors on top 3-1. Indian Hills closed out the half with its fourth goal of the frame, a header from Adem Arous (Lyon, France/Moulin de Preuilly) off a cross from Sakutaro Matsuura (Aichi, Japan/Kaishu Gakuen JSC).
The Warrior defense limited the Raptors throughout the second half as Montgomery collected just four shots over the final 45 minutes of play. Sophomore Diego Lazaro (Laval, Canada/Horizon-Jeunesse) tacked on another insurance goal at the 76:44 mark after forcing a Raptor turnover in their offensive third.
Freshman keeper Matteo Malaguti (Mantova, Italy/Liceo Isabella d’este Mantova) stopped a pair of shots on the day to pick up the complete game victory for the Warriors.
Indian Hills outshot Montgomery 16-10 on the day, including an 8-3 edge in shots on goal. The Warriors also earned a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Warriors move to 5-2-2 all-time at the national tournament with the win and have won their opener in Pool Play for the third time in four appearances. The five goals scored Monday are the most in a single match in national tournament history for the program.
Indian Hills and Tyler are set to square off for the third time in school history with all three matchups occurring at the national tournament. The Warriors earned a 3-2 win over the Apaches at last year’s tournament and dropped a 2-1 double overtime decision in 2017.
Fans can catch Tuesday’s matchup live via the NJCAA Network.
