COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (December 14, 2025) – The final two of 202 Division II teams took to Weidner Field in Colorado Springs on Sunday to battle for the National Championship. After a hard-fought 90 minutes, Midwestern State defeated Rollins 2-0 to claim the title.
The first half went scoreless, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The Mustangs seemed to control the pace of play for about the first twenty minutes, keeping the ball on the Tars' side of the field, and doing their best to work past
Kilian Vallant. However, the Austrian was a brick wall at the net, stopping four shots on goal (ten total) in the period.
By contrast, the Tars had limited opportunities, managing just one off-target shot in the first half. Still, the momentum was split evenly based on the Tars' fantastic team defense. During one possession around the nine minute mark, Midwestern State took three shots in 15 seconds, but every attempt was blocked by the Tar backline.
Midwestern State came out aggressive in the second half, firing a pair of shots in the first two minutes. In the 57
th minute, after forcing a Tars turnover, the Mustangs galloped towards the Rollins goal. After a cross into the box, Vallant made a tremendous save on the initial strike, but the rebound went directly to Sune Espevoll, who broke the scoreless tie with a goal.
Rollins did their best to answer back, but were stymied almost every time they made it past midfield by a swarming Midwestern defense. Head coach
Keith Buckley did everything he could to create a spark, making waves of substitutions to get fresh legs on the pitch, but nothing took.
With time running out, the Mustangs added a second goal when Liam Pritchard broke free and landed an impressive strike in the top bin to make the final of 2-0.
The final numbers skewed heavily towards Midwestern State. They had a 22-4 shot advantage, 6-1 shots on goal advantage, and also saw Rollins whistled for 20 fouls against seven for the Mustangs.
Regardless of the final score, this season can be considered nothing but a fantastic success. The Tars, who never cracked the Top 25 poll, faced 14 ranked opponents, posting a 7-5-2 record against them. The team set a record for games played in a season (24), with
Finlay Prain setting a new program record for appearing in 24 games in a season;
Kaden Foreman ends his career with the eighth-most games played in program history; and
Kilian Vallant ended the season with 84 saves, the 13
th most in a season.
