NO. 3 NORTHEAST AND NO. 12 SOUTHEASTERN DRAW SATURDAY AS VALKEMA SCORES AGAIN

NORFOLK, Neb. – The No. 3 Northeast Community College men's soccer team took on No. 12 Southeastern Community College Saturday at Norfolk Veterans Memorial Field in Norfolk in a matchup pitting two of the top teams in the ICCAC. The Hawks and Blackhawks played to a 1-1 draw in the showdown.

Northeast (10-2-1, 3-1-1 ICCAC) entered the contest after a huge victory against No. 8 Iowa Lakes Community College by a final score of 3-0 Wednesday and faced their third team ranked in the top 12 of the national polls in their last four games. The Hawks got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Len Valkema (Leewarden, Netherlands), which was the 11th time that he has found the back of the net this season.

In the second half, Southeastern was able to slide in a goal late as Northeast will have the week off before squaring off with Marshalltown Community College next Saturday.

STAT SHEET:

Goal: Len Valkema (Leewarden, Netherlands)

Assist: Hugo Munter (Roskilde, Denmark)

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:

Head Assistant Coach Adriano Coppolecchia on the draw against the No. 12 Blackhawks:

"It's not what we wanted, but a draw is probably fair given the circumstances of the game and how the game went back and forth," Coppolecchia said. "Two very good teams. There's a reason why Southeastern is sitting on top of the conference standings."

Coppolecchia on using the bye week effectively before taking on Marshalltown Saturday:

"I think we have a lot of bodies that need to recover." Coppolecchia said. "Obviously, the first half of our conference schedule thing year was very strong as we have played three teams ranked in the top 12 of the national rankings and four of our five conference games have been against ranked opponents. We need to recover, reset and then go back at it on Saturday to attack the last portion of our conference schedule."

UP NEXT:

The Hawks will be off this week before taking on Marshalltown Community College at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Marshalltown, Iowa.

HAWKS HAPPENINGS:

For all the latest information on Northeast Hawks Athletics, please visit northeasthawks.com. For updates and other exciting content, follow:

@northeastcchawks on Facebook

@northeasthawks on Instagram

@northeasthawks on TikTok

@NortheastHawks on Twitter/X

@NortheastCCMS on Twitter/X