When Jeff Cole was hired just prior to the 2020 season, his first task was to change the culture of the program and that meant gutting the roster and recruit players who would believe in his system and do the work to be successful.
"I want to bring in good people with high character and morals along with the talent to play at this level," Cole said after his hiring.
With a short recruiting period and low roster count, his first campaign resulted in a 2-10-0 mark during a year marked by COVID cancellations and postponements, massive changes to gameday protocols and a season moved from fall to the spring.
In year two, Cole brought in his first true class of new players and the season saw big improvements on how the team competed finishing 7-10-0.
Coaching his third season at JCCC, the Cavaliers went from being picked to finish last in the preseason to winning the conference title and advancing to the District Championship Game where they fell in overtime. The Cavaliers finished 14-7-0 overall, 5-4-0 against ranked teams and were ranked 13th in the country in the final NJCAA Poll.
Now entering year four, Cole wants his program to 'take the next step' and that entails winning the District Championship to qualify for the NJCAA National Tournament and compete for the national title. However, getting there will much different than previous campaigns because the program moves to Division II status in the NJCAA. They have competed at the D-I level since the program's inception in 1977.
"The decision in going to Division II was to keep our soccer program on a level playing field with similar teams in our conference," said JCCC Athletic Director Tony Tompkins. "We have done this with men's and women's basketball, softball and volleyball and it has been beneficial for those teams. I believe this will be beneficial for both our soccer programs as well."
"Our coaches have done a great job in putting together a competitive schedule in preparing our players for the next level," Tompkins continued. "The competition will be very high at the conference and the region for D-II. There were multiple teams ranked all last season from our conference and I expect it to be the same this year."
The Cavaliers will be tested right out of the gate in 2023, when they travel to Arizona to face Phoenix College on August 18. The Bears have qualified for the NJCAA D-II National Tournament three straight years. They were ranked No. 1 in the in the final D-II Poll and ended the year fourth at the national tournament with a 15-1-3 mark.
Johnson County returns home to host five straight matches, beginning with Indian Hills who was ranked 18th at the end of the year, capped by hosting their conference opener against Neosho County on September 6.
Also highlighting the schedule are home-and-home conference matches against Allen Community College and Pratt Community College. Allen won the KJCCC D-II title with a 12-4-1 mark, and Pratt finished ranked 19th in the final NJCAA Poll and reached the D-II District Championship falling to Northeast Nebraska on penalty kicks.
The schedule also features home-and-home matches with conference foe Hesston College and Central Community College-Columbus and Southeast Community College out Region 9 in Nebraska. JCCC will close out the season on Wednesday, October 16 when they host Iowa Western Tech who is competing in its first season.
The Region 6/Plains District Tournament is scheduled to open on October 26 with the championship on November 4 in Wichita, Kan. The winner will advance to the NJCAA D-II National Tournament November 12-18 in Tucson, Ariz.
Cole returns eight players from last year's conference championship team, highlighted by all-conference forward Jacksyn McIntrye and all-conference midfielders Homer Skidmore and Andy Sloss. Also back are midfielders Ryan Masterson, Rajae Lawrence and Nate Getahun and defenders Quentin Gee and Alaa Alamood.
McIntryre will be JCCC's 'go-to' player this fall. Last year he led the team in assists with eight and game winnings assists with three. He ranked second in goals with eight and points with 24. His eight assists also ranked second in the conference and 19th nationally.
Skidmore was one of a handful players who could make an impact on the pitch this season. Last year he started out a central midfield but moved to the starting right back after eight games and really embraced it. Skidmore finished fourth on the team in points with 10 and tied for fourth in goals scored with four.
Sloss is player that coach Cole said brought value to every single match last season and has a good presence on the pitch. Last season he was a key part of JCCC's defensive unit that posted a goals against average of 1.06 which ranked second in the conference and ninth in the NJCAA. That unit also produced seven shutouts which were the most in the conference and tied for eighth nationally.
Masterson is an extremely gifted technical player who can provide a spark on offense. He is capable of creating scoring opportunities for teammates and is expected to have a breakout season in 2023.
Lawrence is a left-footer pure winger who can play either left or right wing. In 2021, he Played in 10 matches, five as a starter, before suffering a season ending injury. He finished the season fourth in points with nine with four goals and one assist. Last year he redshirted.
A walk on last year, Getahun really developed and improved his strength over the spring season and earned a scholarship for the 2023 season. He played in 13 matches, four as a starter in the midfield.
Gee is projected to make significant contributions coming in 2023 after struggling with injuries in 2022. Cole describes him as a versatile player who challenges the ball and is a hard tackler
Alamood is a solid team player who will be competing for a spot in the JCCC backfield. He has demonstrated solid talent in the back. Last year he played in 16 matches, six as a starter.
While Cole has quality talented returning, he does have some significant holes to fill, most notably All-American forward Alan Lopez and conference Defensive Player of the Year goalkeeper Cole Stewart.
Lopez led the team, ranked second in the conference and 16th in the NJCAA with 33 points in 2022 to power the Cavaliers' offense. He closed out his career with 63 points, 23 goals and 17 assists. His 63 points rank him tied for fourth all-time. Off the pitch Lopez was just as impressive. He was named Academic All-America® Men's At-Large College Division by College Sports Communicators and Was one of 11 student-athletes named to the Men's Junior College Scholar All-America first-team and he was named the Scholar Player of the Year, the first in JCCC men's soccer history.
Stewart earned first-team All-Region 6/Plains District and first-team All-Kansas Jayhawk Community College East Division honors played in 10 games and finished with a mark of 4-5-0 with a goals against average of 1.25, one shutout and a save percentage of .836. He was also selected as the KJCCC D-I Goalkeeper of the Week three times and made team and conference history by becoming the first goalkeeper to be selected as the NJCAA National D-I Goalkeeper of the Week three times in one season.
Also gone are all-conference goalkeeper Brandon McGaugh and all-conference defenders Micah O'Garro and Dalton Shipley. McGaugh played in 12 games, all as a starter and finished 10-2-0 with six shutouts, a goals against average of 0.90 and a save percentage of .863. He closed out his career with a mark of 14-16-0 with a goals against average of 1.86, seven shutouts, a save percentage of .779 and made 197 total saves over his three campaigns. O'Garro and Shipley were key players on the back of JCCC's defensive front.
Cole has added 19 newcomers to the roster in 2023 who will be relied upon to fill those voids to help the Cavaliers 'make that next step'!