With the talent and depth the CCBC Essex men’s soccer team has this season, this could be their year — only if fortune rolls their way, which hasn’t been the case in recent years.
For the past four seasons, the Knights have at least advanced to the semifinals of the NJCAA Division II national tournament, only to fall short of what seemed like inches away from victory.
Since Head Coach Joe Fiedler took over the program 13 years ago, CCBC Essex established itself as a juggernaut in its respective conference and region.
The Knights own a No. 4 preseason ranking. In front of them are Northeast Community College, Phoenix College (team that eliminated CCBC Essex in the national semifinals on penalty kicks) and defending champion Iowa Lakes Community College.
The program put together a solid campaign last season, finishing 19-2-1 overall with Region 20 and Maryland JUCO conference titles.
The team opens their 2024 season on Thursday evening against the College of Southern Maryland as they begin a quest to a national title. The game begins at 7 p.m. at CCBC Essex Stadium.
CCBC Essex has six returning players on its roster, Fiedler said, and brings a host of newcomers to the program. He holds this year’s team to the same standard that he has held all of his teams to in the past.
“The expectations are the same. We want to win a Maryland JUCO title, we want to win a region title and we would like to be in the national title picture,” said Fiedler, who has led the program to 12 consecutive Region 20 championships.
“There’s no difference this year, we want to be there again. So, the same thing — high expectations, that’s what we want.”
Fiedler couldn’t point out anything in particular that the Knights did wrong to attribute to the last few season-ending losses. Rather, he said he felt it’s been a matter of luck.
“With any sport, obviously there’s hard work, there’s skill and there’s a little bit of luck. Luck hasn’t been on our side,” he said.
“I guess we’re going to need that little bit of luck to get over the hump. We’ve been so close. I don’t know what to say, we’ve done everything right.”
One of the team’s most notable strength is their depth at midfield. Fiedler is fully confident of his group’s ability to perform at a high level and make another deep run in the postseason.
Fiedler and his coaching staff have sent several players from last season’s team to Division I and NAIA soccer programs.
He hopes to instill his philosophy of the goal being to “be the best on the last day, not the first day.”
“We have a lot of solid guys who know how to play the game. Their soccer IQ is very high,” Fiedler said.
“I think we have a pretty good team. We’re very young this year; we have mostly all freshmen, so we’ll see. I got a lot of skilled guys, we just need to put it together.”
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