Eagles Crowned North Region Champions
November 12, 2025

Eagles Crowned North Region Champions

Des Moines, IA -- Faith men's soccer punched their ticket to the NCCAA DII National Tournament in Kissimmee, Florida following a thrilling championship match that came down to PKs.

Box Score

The Eagles met Crown in the North Region Championship on Wednesday, their second time playing each other this season. The first meeting between the two teams came in the first regular season match in September that saw the teams play to a 1-1 draw.

The match started fast and stayed that way throughout as both teams fought for the first advantage. Crown placed a shot on goal in their first run, and again ten minutes later, but Zeke Denger picked up saves on both. The defensive line for the Eagles held strong, blocking three other SOG in that time. Faith tested the waters offensively, but only landed one shot on goal in the first half, that the opposing goalkeeper would save. After the first 45, the teams found themselves scoreless heading into the break.

The first 15 minutes saw little action as once again, neither team could find an advantage. The Polars finally found their breakthrough with 30 minutes to go as they crossed a pass into the middle of the box for one of their players to score through three Eagle defenders. The Eagles outshot Crown 7-5 over the next 29 minutes, but the game seemed all but lost as the time ticked away. In a thrilling turn of events, Faith was awarded a corner kick with less than 30 seconds left. The Eagles sent all players, including GK Denger up to the box, and found a way to convert for the game-tying goal from Parker Lundberg (from Cody Clark, Alan Moscosa) as the seconds ran out. The Eagles defended a corner kick on the last ten seconds and the teams headed into extra time.

Faith battled through two evenly matched overtime periods, but the teams remained locked at 1-1 after 110 minutes of play and moved on to a shootout. In a storybook ending, Faith won the shootout 4-3, taking the North Region Championship title and advancing to Nationals for the first time since 2015.

Faith placed five players on the All-North Region team: Austin Lundberg (Player of the Year), Ian Naughton (1st team), Parker Lundberg (1st team), Andre Quintana (honorable mention), and Noah Blomquist (honorable mention). Gary Backous was honored as the 2025 North Region Coach of the Year to finish out the awards for the Eagles.