Kissimmee, FL - Your Grace Christian Tigers Men's Soccer squad fell to Bob Jones University 1-0 in the NCCAA DII Mens Soccer National Championship held at Austin Tindall Sports Complex in Kissimmee, FL. Finishing 16-4-2 on the season and the first-ever appearance for Men's Soccer in the National Championship. Before falling to Bob Jones, the Tigers were also on a 13-match win streak. Additionally, the Tigers were the team that allowed the fewest goal in the 2022 National Tournament, only allowing the lone goal (1) to Bob Jones in the final. 

In the opening round of group play, the Tigers faced off against #6 seed, Kansas Christian College. KCC had come off a 4-2 loss to Providence Univ. College the day before. The Tigers felt confident about their game plan and would aim to come out early against KCC. The plan would work as the Tigers found the net just 4-minutes into the match when Ryan Cronkright was given a pass in the box from Moubarak Adam for the 1-0 lead.  The Tigers would struggle to get shots on goal for the next portion of the half, that is until the 30th minute when Moubarak Adam found Parris Reale in the box for a rocket of a shot that would send the match 2-0 into halftime. 
In the second half, the Tigers would keep the pressure on which would lead to success early once again. In the 57th minute Moubarak Adam would find Ryan Cronkright in the box for a tap-in goal. Setting the match at 3-0. The Tigers attack would continue the entire half with many players getting game time in the match. The final goal of the match would come in the 60th minute when Ashton Carpenter found Zak TerMeer for a breakaway goal that would be placed away from the KCC Goalkeeper. The final score would be 4-0, in favor of the Tigers. 

The second match in group play would be against a familiar foe in nationals play, the #2 seed Providence University College Pilots. The Pilots as the higher seed were granted a day off in between games and were coming in rested and fresh, the Tigers would play in back-to-back days but thanks to their performance were able to give many guys breaks in the match before. The first half of this match would be very even. Both teams getting several chances as they looked to find the gaps. It'd be a physical half and would go into halftime deadlocked at 0's. 
In the second half, the Tigers would look to get a goal even though a tie would advance the Tigers to the finals because of the goal differential. In the 53th minute the Tigers would be given a corner kick that Zak TerMeer would step up to take and find Ethan DeWitt for an upper shoulder/back ball deflection goal to set the Tigers up 1-0. The match would remain back & forth for the rest of play as both teams were battling the entire 90 minutes. However, the Tigers would stay on top and would advance to the national finals with a 1-0 victory. This victory would set up the final match-up vs Bob Jones. 

When asked about the tournament run, Coach Buchanan had this to say:
"I could not be more proud of this group of men.  The entire year, from the first moment they bought into the process and made that the focus.  We challenged the guys to take every single day and make it matter.  That each day has value and we will improve with every one. We never looked past the day In front of us , whether it was training or a match. These guys broke records, won the regional tournament, and got to a national final. We were physically banged up with injuries. We had several guys out there hurt but gave it their all. These guys are warriors and left everything on the pitch.  We have an incredible group of men that we are all so proud of." 

Additionally, three Tigers were selected to the NCCAA DII Mens Soccer - All-Tournament Team: 
Pictured L-R: Payton Warner, Camden Bierling& Justin Riemersma