Concordia soccer team honored
Published 1:20 pm Tuesday, November 24, 2009
SELMA — The Concordia College men’s soccer team met with Mayor George Evans at city hall on Monday to celebrate naming Nov. 24 “Concordia College Men’s Soccer Day.”
The Hornets won the 2009 United States Collegiate Athletic Association Soccer Men’s National Championship on Nov. 7 in Burlington, Vt.
The tournament was hosted by Vermont Technical College. Concordia finished the season with a record of 13 wins, two draws and two losses.
In 2007 the team paced fourth overall and in 2008 third overall in the tournament.
“This was just a step going further,” said head coach Brent Dukhie. “All of us made changes and believed in our strength as a team.”
Only one member of the team is a senior.
“The senior we’re losing is valuable, but I’m very confident for next year,” Dukhie said. “The main thing is we stayed positive. We didn’t have any bad egos on the team. It was a total team effort.”
Dukhie joined the team in 1999 as student at Concordia College, leaving his home of Trinidad. Then in 2007, he joined the coaching staff as head coach. Spring training will start in February, but until then, Dukhie and team members will enjoy the title of national champions.
“I’m just really happy and proud of them,” Dukhie said.
The road to the championship was not easy for the team. The proclamation states that the team “endured a 31-hour bus ride to Vermont for the tournament, a flat tire on the bus transporting the team on Opening Day, making them seven hours late and having to play under weather conditions never experienced, specifically snow and in 19-degree temperatures.”
The team also will attend a luncheon at the St. James Hotel at noon Tuesday and the City Council meeting Tuesday night.
Members of the team are Akil Benjamin, Derron Maillard, Abdoul Mbengue, Demontinez Hughley, Lekol Kordah, Kurt Newton, Bryant Constantine, Leandro Subero, Kenjay Simmonds, Bryan Arneaud, Vikern Hunte, Kareen James, Troy Bacchus, Emery Joyeau, Brent Pierre, Kareem Chrysostom, Adrian White, Hyron Brown-Baptiste, Matrin Brown and George Chuvalos.
