CHANUTE, Kan. – In the third matchup between ranked schools this season, the Johnson County Community College men's soccer earned its biggest victory of the season by defeating previously unbeaten and top-seeded Neosho County by a score of 2-1 Sunday afternoon to win the 2025 NJCAA Division 2 Region 6/9 Tournament title at the Chanute Sports Complex in Chanute in Chanute, Kansas.

Winning their first NJCAA Region 6 tournament crown since 2005 and 15th in program history, the win continues the season for Cavaliers, who now advance to the NJCAA Division 2 North Plains District Championship game, where they will take on Iowa Lakes Community College in Spencer, Iowa on Friday, November 7th. The Lakers won the NJCAA Division 2 Region 11 Men’s Soccer Tournament on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 shutout over Southeastern Community College and will enter the North Plains District Title game with a 12-5-2 overall record and number seven national ranking in the NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Soccer Top 20. The winner of Friday’s matchup will earn an automatic berth in the NJCAA Division 2 National Tournament at Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas, November 16-22. 

Heading into Sunday's matchup, the 15th-ranked Cavaliers were a clear underdog as Johnson County was a clear underdog as Neosho County entered the contest with an unbeaten 14-0-3 record and had won 11 of the past 14 matchups between schools which included an unbeaten record in Chanute against JCCC. Each of the previous two NJCAA Region 6/9 Tournament Championship matches featured Johnson County and Neosho County, with the Panthers winning both matchups while advancing to last year’s NJCAA Division 2 Men’s National Championship match.

This year, however, Johnson County proved that the third time really is a charm as the Cavaliers dominated the first half by outshooting the Panthers 11-5 and racing out to a 2-0 lead behind a pair of goals from freshman Conor Meyers.

Meyers opened the scoring in the 19th minute when his corner kick sailed over the Neosho defense and into the back corner of the net before being fed a throw by sophomore Kael Drummond five minutes later that Meyers was able to connect on with a header that found the back of the net to put Neosho County in just their third multi-goal deficit of the season.  

Neosho County's Callum Niven pulled NCCC back within a goal after scoring his conference-leading 14th goal of the season in the 33rd minute, but the Panthers were turned away the rest of the contest as a stout defensive line and the steady play from freshman goalkeeper Daniel Wozniek for the Cavaliers kept the score where it was at over the final 57 minutes of the game to secure Johnson County’s first appearance in an NJCAA Men’s Soccer District Championship match since 2022, and its first since moving to Division 2 competition.