Athletics

Herkimer comes back to shock Mohawk Valley and claim Region III Title

Mens Soccer Region III Championship Pic 2

Herkimer, NY - It didn't look good for Pepe Aragon and his Herkimer Generals with 20 minutes to go in the Region III Championship game against the Mohawk Valley Hawks. But that all changed very quickly.

Trailing 1-0 against the undefeated and #3 ranked Hawks, Yohan Kim, a sophomore from Seoul, South Korea, scored the first goal of the game for the Generals with 16 minutes to tie the game at 1 and Christ Valle (Highland Falls, NY) followed that by scoring with 1:55 left, with an assist from Kim, to give the #4 ranked Generals a dramatic 2-1 win to claim the Region III Title on Friday night at Wehrum Stadium. The win punched the Generals ticket to the 2021 NJCAA Division III National Championships, which will be hosted at Herkimer College on June 2-5.

Heath Lucas (Chazy, NY) assisted on Kim's goal that tied the game at 1 and Manabu Takahashi (Osaka, Japan) made 4 saves in goal for Herkimer. The win gave Coach Aragon his 22nd Region III Championship in his 23 years of leading the Generals.

Kim earned the Region III Tournament Most Valuable Player and was joined by Takahashi, Alex Charles (Christ Church, St. Kitts) and Ali Somow (Utica, NY) on the All-Tournament team. Charles was also honored as Region III Player of the Year after the game.

The Generals,now 5-1-1 on the season, will now await their seeding and National Quarterfinal opponent, which will be determined on Tuesday, May 25. The Generals first game of the National Tournament will take place on Wednesday, June 2 at Wehrum Stadium.