NOVA Men’s Soccer Team Opens 2023 Season with a Big Win!
The 2023 season has begun, and the NOVA Nighthawks Men’s Soccer Team looked strong in a (9-0) road win at Cecil College (Northeast, MD).
The Nighthawks got on the board very early (1:18) in the match when first-year striker Samson Amaniel (Arlington, Va./ Washington & Liberty HS), broke loose for a beautiful header off a free kick from sophomore Nathan Pazmino (Burke, Va./ Lake Braddock SS). Less than a minute later (1:55), Amaniel punched in his second goal of the day off a pinpoint pass from sophomore Alex Romero (Alexandria , Va./ Mount Vernon HS). NOVA made it (3-0) when newcomer Bryan Ramirez (Alexandria, Va./ West Potomac HS) had an unassisted right-leg blast past the Cecil goalkeeper. At (17:08) Amaniel completed the first NOVA HAT TRICK of the 2023 season when he scored his third goal assisted by Romero. The Nighthawks tallied their fifth goal at (22:08) when Ramirez scored his second unassisted goal of the match. To close out the first-half scoring, was a (28:26) goal by Romero assisted by Pazmino.
The first-half shutout was due to the strong defense led by starting goalkeeper, Joshua Tannenbaum (Centreville, Va./Chantilly HS) and versatile defenders Leonel Sanchez-Pena (Springfield, Va./Lewis HS), Christian Orellana (Alexandria, Va./Hayfield SS), Logan Nyren (Sterling, Va./Dominion HS), Quincy Marshall (Lorton, Va./South County HS), Mark Flores-Ordonez (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock SS) and Nathan Pazmino.
NOVA got three more goals in the second half to win (9-0). At (61:03) of the match, the star-of the-day, Samson Amaniel tallied his FOURTH goal on an assist from Ramirez. Omer Meftohu (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax HS) got his first goal of 2023 at the (63:37) mark and at (75:09) Gabriel Folgoso (Fairfax, Va./WT Woodson HS) scored the Nighthawks final tally on an acrobatic, highlight-reel bicycle kick off a corner kick by freshman Michael Dornic (McLean, Va./Langley HS).
The Nighthawks completed the shutout courtesy of seven saves by Tannenbaum and one save by Harbyn Velasquez (Alexandria, Va./Mount Vernon HS).
GAME NOTES:
- The Nighthawks out shot the Seahawks 29 to 11.
- Leonel Sanchez-Pena played all 90 minutes.
- The win avenged a 2022 season (2-1) loss to Cecil College
- Alex Romero notched his 7th career goal and 17th career point for NOVA
- NOVA used 24 players in the match
NOVA plays next when they travel to perennial power CCBC Essex (Baltimore) on Thursday, August 31 for a 7 p.m. kickoff under the lights.
Submitted by:
Steve Mrowka, Athletic Director, SMrowka@nvcc.edu