Auburn, ME – CMCC Men's Soccer was wished "good luck" by the Central Maine Community College administration, faculty, staff, and students, as they prepare to travel to Pittsburgh, PA for the 2025 USCAA DII National Championships. The #1 seeded Mustangs are the defending champs and look to pick up their second title in program history.
CMCC is joined by #4 Penn State-Lehigh Valley and #5 Paul Smith's College in the group phase. They will face the Bobcats on Friday, November 14th at the AHN Montour Sports Complex in Coraopolis, PA at 3:30 pm. A win would set them up to face the Nittany Lions on Sunday, November 16th at noon. The top squad from both of the three-team groups will then meet for the national title on Monday, November 17th at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA at 1:00 pm.
The Mustangs enter the national tournament with an unbeaten overall record of 13-0-3. The team rolled to their fifth straight Yankee Small College Conference championship after victories over Word of Life in the semifinals and SMCC in the finals. That came after an undefeated 8-0-0 run in YSCC play. All told, Central Maine outscored conference opponents 62-0 over those ten games.
Central Maine retained the #1 ranking in the USCAA from last year through the entirety of this season. This marks their fifth consecutive trip to nationals. Head coach Dalton Wing's squad survived a tense opening round fixture in last year's tournament, going scoreless with Johnson & Wales-Charlotte through both halves of regulation and extra time, before prevailing in a penalty shootout. They followed that up with a 5-0 victory over Penn State-Lehigh Valley in their final group game, before a decisive 7-0 win against Central Penn College for their first national championship in program history.
This year's squad features ten returning players from the 2024-25 team. Captain and YSCC Player of the Year Mitch Cameron leads the group with 21 goals and eight assists. Freshman duo Daniel Semple and Matthew Greco are second and third on the team in goals with 16 and 10 respectively, while fellow first-year Albie Fozard-Oakes is tops on the team, and in the country, with 15 assists. Two other newcomers in the midfield, Yoan Thériault (six) and Drew Hatala (five), have also come through with timely goals.
On the defensive end, fullbacks and YSCC All-Conference selections Matty Waters and Massimo Di Pilato have been rock solid while providing offense down the flanks, and freshman center backs Charlie Leclerc and Mitchell Maceda have stepped up in place of injured captain Alfie Bashford. Goalkeeper Cody Cleaveland leads the nation in wins with an 11-0-2 record, as well as clean sheets (nine), save percentage (.894), and goals against average (0.40).
The team heads to Pennsylvania on Wednesday with their first stop being the All-American Awards ceremony and banquet on Thursday night. Fans can follow the Mustangs' progress at the national championships on the USCAA Sports Network.
