Bethel College Men's Soccer

The Bethel College men’s soccer team completed one of its most successful seasons in years. With nine new faces in the starting lineup, it seemed this would be rebuilding year, but the unique strategy and game play that each individual brought to the program made the team a contender for the KCAC crown. Bethel finished the season 14-5-2 overall with a 7-1-1 KCAC record and qualified for the NAIA Region IV Tournament for the first time since 1998.

The Threshers opened the season with a 6-0 victory over Central Christian College and had several key victories throughout the year, including a 1-0 victory over Bellevue University. Bethel was on a seven-game win streak heading into the KCAC Tournament semifinals but lost 1-0 to Friends University for the second time this year. Bethel had a shot at redemption, meeting Friends in the NAIA Region IV quarterfinals, but came up short again, 3-2.

Several players received KCAC honors during the season. Forward Jason Wood, senior from Spanish Town, Jamaica, was named a KCAC Player of the Week for his two-goal performance against Sterling College in Bethel’s first KCAC game of the season. Goalkeeper Brady Coffman, freshman from Newton, was also named a KCAC Player of the Week. The Threshers had five players named to All-KCAC Teams: Emanuel Batu, a junior midfielder from Porto Alegre, Brazil, was named to the 1st Team, with Romeo Ngati and Galidore Ngapeth, both sophomore defenders from Cameroon, Gareth Hamer, freshman from Shropshire, England, and Craig Bonnyman, freshman from Glasgow, Scotland, named to the 2nd Team.

The team loses six seniors: four-year letter winners Wood, Franklin Ekue, a defender from Beltsville, Md. (originally from Cameroon), Aaron Gaeddert, a forward from Leawood, Jordan Penner, a midfielder from Reedley, Calif., and Jon VanMaren, a midfielder from Bonner Springs, along with Braden Dragomir, a forward and goalkeeper from Salt Spring Island, B.C., who transferred from the University of Maine in 2006.

View the 2008 summer sports camp and summer league schedule and download registration forms.