Haverhill, MA (November 4, 2025) – The Region 21 and NJCAA Northeast District Champion Northern Essex Community College men's soccer team has been named the six seed for next week's national tournament as released this evening by the NJCAA. The Knights will be making their second straight national tournament appearance. Bergen is making their first national tournament appearance since 2016.
The Knights will be the six seed for a second consecutive season and will face the Bulldogs at 6:30pm on Wednesday November 12 at Wehrum Stadium on the campus of Herkimer College in the fourth national quarterfinal game of the day.
A quarterfinal win would send the Knights to the national semi-final on Friday November 14th against the winner of second seeded Mohawk Valley and seventh seeded Raritan Valley at 6:30pm. A quarterfinal loss and the Knights would conclude the season on Thursday at 6:30 against the loser of the MVCC and RVCC contest.
The national championship game and third place games are both scheduled for Sunday November 16th.
Christian Colem (Nashua, NH), the Region 21 tournament most valuable player leads the Knights with 20 points on the season on six goals and eight assists. Both Maxim Chriss (Lexington) and Ilembo Kiza (Lowell) have a team high seven goals.
Heading into the tournament the Knights are averaging 3.2 goals per game, while Bergen averages 3.89 per game. Defensively, NECC is allowing 1.42 goals per game, compared to 1.21 for Bergen.
The Knights will head to the national tournament with a 12-3-1 overall record and became the first team to repeat as Region 21 champions since Bunker Hill claimed three straight from 2016-18. NECC is one of six teams participating in the 2025 tournament who qualified a season ago including the defending national champion Mohawk Valley earning the second seed and the six-time national champion Richland earning the top overall seed.
Fans not making the trip to upstate New York can tune into the tournament live on the pay-per-view NJCAA Network
National Tournament Seeding:
- Dallas College-Richland
- Mohawk Valley
- Bergen County
- Finger Lakes
- Suffolk County
- Northern Essex
- Raritan Valley
- Joliet Junior College
Quarterfinal Matchups – Wednesday November 12th
11:00am #1 Dallas Richland vs. #8 Joliet Junior College
1:30pm #4 Finger Lakes vs. #5 Suffolk County
4:00pm #7 Mohawk Valley vs. #7 Raritan Valley
6:30pm #3 Bergen County vs #6 Northern Essex