WINTER PARK, Fla. (December 9, 2025) - Men's soccer has earned their first appearance in the National Semifinal since 2010, and will face #1 seed Fort Hays State on Friday, December 12 at 5:00 pm EST from Weidner Field in Colorado Springs, Colorado with a trip to the Championship Game on the line.
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How They Got There
Rollins finished the regular season with a record of 8-3-5, earning the #4 seed in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. They defeated #5 Nova Southeastern, and then took down #1 Palm Beach Atlantic on the road before falling to #2 Lynn in the title game. The NCAA committee was impressed with the team's resume that included three wins against Top 6 nationally-ranked opponents, and rewarded the Tars with the #5 seed in Super Region 2. Rollins took the region with a road win at #4 West Florida, a home win against #8 Flagler, and put the cherry on top with a 5-1 drubbing of #6 Mississippi College in the regional final.
Fort Hays State wrapped up their regular season with a record of 15-0-3, claiming two wins against nationally-ranked Rogers State and a draw versus #3 CSU-Pueblo. They secured two wins in the GAC tournament to claim the conference crown, and were the #1 seed in Super Region 3. They outscored UIndy, Rockhurst, and Rogers State 9-0 across three games to earn the #1 seed in the semifinal round with an overall record of 20-0-3.
Notable Outcomes
Rollins
Wins: 2-1 vs. #6 Tampa; 4-3 vs. #1 Lynn; 2-1 at #25 Nova Southeastern; 2-1 at #1 Palm Beach Atlantic; 2-1 at #24 West Florida; 5-1 vs. #20 Mississippi
Losses: 5-1 vs. #24 West Florida; 2-1 at #25 Nova Southeastern; 2-0 at #14 Florida Tech; 6-1 at #2 Lynn
Draws: 3-3 vs. #14 Florida Tech; 1-1 vs. #8 Palm Beach Atlantic
vs. Top 25: 6-4-2
vs. Tournament Teams: 5-3-2
Fort Hays State
Wins: 4-0 vs. #8 Rogers State; 1-0 vs. #17 Rogers State; 2-1 vs. #13 Rogers State; 2-0 vs. #10 Rockhurst; 4-0 vs. #13 Rogers State
Losses: None
Draws: 0-0 vs. #3 CSU Pueblo
vs. Top 25: 5-0-1
vs. Tournament Teams: 6-0-0
Offense
The Tars have found the net 50 times in 22 games, averaging 2.27 goals per contest. Their season high is six scores against Embry-Riddle on October 25, and they had 15 games with multiple goals. They were only shut out one time, at Florida Tech on September 24. A whopping 18 different players recorded a goal this season, with
Justin Nelson leading the charge at nine.
Pablo Herrero added seven and
Finlay Prain scored six times. Showcasing their team-first style of play, the Tars have recorded 48 assists on those 50 goals. The Prainmaker tops the stat with eight helpers, with defenseman
Kaden Foreman right behind him at seven. Nelson, Herrero, and freshman
Tolu Junaid each have five. While his overall stats may not be eye-popping (three goals, four assists), midfielder
Yousef Shakweer has had a fantastic season leading the Tar offense. He was recognized as both first team All-SSC and first team USC All-South Region. Rollins has taken 298 shots this year with 129 on target (43%).
The Tigers showcased one of the best offenses in the country with 68 strikes in their 23 matches, a 2.96 average. They thumped University of Jamestown 9-0 on September 20, and have 18 games with multiple scores. Fort Hays was shutout twice in the regular season with 0-0 draws versus CSU Pueblo and Southern Nazarene. Elias Ovelar Semeniuk was the GAC Player of the Year after leading the Tigers with 15 goals while adding five assists. Bastian Cariman and Juan Linares added nine apiece. Joseph Street is the point guard of the team, dishing out a team-high 13 assists. Fort Hays has unloaded 413 shots at their opponents with 190 counting as on-target, good for 46%.
Defense
Rollins has been solid on defense, allowing 37 goals to opponents (1.68 per game). If you remove the SSC Championship game against Lynn, that number drops all the way to 1.40. The Tars have allowed one or fewer goals in eight of the last nine matches, receiving strong efforts from their defensive backline as well as keeper
Kilian Vallant. Vallant started 21 of 22 games this season, recording 73 saves and a 67.6% save percentage. The quartet of
Hayden Judge,
Kaden Foreman,
Jayden Fernandez, and
Jakob Theuerkauf play with a ferocious tenacity, and are not afraid to get physical. Judge was named 1st Team All-SSC, and has All-South Region accolades from both D2CCA and United Soccer Coaches this year.
While the Tars have been solid, the Tigers have been unbelievable. Fort Hays State has allowed only ten goals all season with only three teams ... MSU Denver, Northeastern State, and Newman ... scoring more than once. Payton Roehrich, a freshman, started 22 games for the Tigers. He tallied 50 saves and allowed only eight goals on the year wit a 86.2% save percentage, earning the GAC Newcomer of the Year award. Fort Hays is also not afraid to mix it up with the physicality; the team has been booked for 69 yellows and two red cards on the season.
Coaches
Keith Buckley is in his 35th season at the help of Rollins soccer. He enters the weekend with a career record of 382-192-47. He is the Tars' all-time winningest coach, and ranks 6th among active coaches in D-II for career wins. He is a 3x South Region Coach of the Year and 5x SSC Coach of the Year. He was the lead man when the Rollins made their only other appearance in the National Semifinal in 2010, defeating Midwestern State 2-1 before falling to Northern Kentucky in the championship, 3-2. Buckley is an alumni of Rollins (1988), and was elected to the Rollins Sports Hall of Fame as a player in 2008.
Alex Nichols started with the Tigers in 2024, leading the team to a 13-4-4 record, a GAC tournament championship, and an NCAA appearance in his first year. This season, he set the program record for wins with 20 while adding the GAC regular season and tournament titles. Prior to Fort Hays, Nichols coached Florida Memorial and Central Methodist, where he won back-to-back national titles in 2018 and 2019.
This and That
- Rollins has to travel 1,830 miles from campus to Weidner Field; Fort Hays State (Hays, Kansas) is going 323 miles west on Interstate 70.
- The two teams have not only never played each other in soccer, they have never played each other in any sport
- The average weight of a medium sized tiger is 330 pounds; the average weight of an American sailor is about 185 pounds
- Rollins is the only college in the country with "Tars" as a mascot; an estimated 75 colleges use Tigers across all levels
- Fort Hays State has one DII National Championship, 1996 men's basketball (34-0); the Tars have twelve (4x MTEN, 2x MGOLF, 6x WGOLF)
