Ottumwa, IA – The Indian Hills Men's and Women's Soccer teams open up their respective 2024 campaigns at home this week with the IHCC Classic. The annual event will feature seven contests across four days of competition.

DETAILS: IHCC Classic

Thursday, August 22 – Sunday, August 25

ADMISSION: Free

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL:    MEN   |   WOMEN

TOURNAMENT PROGRAM: IHCC Classic

SCHEDULE

The 2024 IHCC Classic kicks off the 2024 season for both the Indian Hills Men's and Women's Soccer programs with an action-packed weekend in Ottumwa. The Warriors will welcome a number of nationally prominent programs on both the men's and women's sides.

OPENING KICK

• The Indian Hills Men's squad returns to action after making a run to the national tournament a year ago, just the second all-time appearance for the Warriors
• Head coach Zac Newton enters his first season at the helm for the Warrior men.
• The Warriors are ranked No. 7 in the preseason national rankings, recently announced by the NJCAA
• Indian Hills returns a number of key sophomores from last year's NJCAA District Championship squad, including Tyrique Bailey-Edwards, Miguel Rivera, Lucas Bauer, Fernando Pirri, and Daniel Mulero.
• Head coach Jon Hussak leads the women's squad into his second full season.
• The Warriors are coming off a 7-6-3 season and narrowly missed a berth in the NJCAA District Championship match.
• The Warriors return five members from last year's squad, including All-Region selections Maria Melendez, Alexia Bru, and Maika Nchana.

COACH HUSSAK'S NOTES

"We are ready to get regular season games underway. It's always exciting leading into opening weekend and the cherry on top is the IHCC classic. We are going to see some extremely high level soccer, including two of the best teams in the nation. This is a great way for our group to test what we are capable of and also get a sense of what the top teams are doing. We open up with Illinois Central who only two years ago had an undefeated season. I know Coach Javier (Valle) does a great job there and will be bringing his best. Sunday we play the number seven team in the nation, Navarro. Coach Alicia (Wilson) always puts together a strong group of players. All in all, our players want to get out there and prove themselves and we as a staff want to see what they can do against some of the best."

COACH NEWTON'S NOTES

"This weekend we are extremely excited to welcome two very strong teams to Ottumwa in Northeast and Prairie State. Our goal each year is to compete against the best teams possible and both programs have shown that they fit that description with continuous appearances to the NJCAA DII National Tournament.

The start of the season has been an experience with exhibition battles against some very top NAIA programs in William Penn, Columbia College, and Mount Mercy.  Throughout all three games we've tried to rotate our squad as much as possible with different player and formation combinations to see what has worked best for our program. We look to see how the team has molded in these three exhibition games to prepare us for our first game this Thursday against our nearby rivals, Marshalltown."

SCOUTING THE FIELD (MEN'S)

The men's side will feature some of the top NJCAA DII programs in the nation with Marshalltown Community College, Prairie State College, and Northeast Community College.

• Northeast enters the weekend ranked No. 3 in the nation after posting a 22-2 overall record last year, making a run to the NJCAA DII Men's Soccer National Championship semifinal round, losing to eventual champion Iowa Lakes Community College.
• Prairie State checks in at No. 6 in the preseason national polls after going 18-3 overall last season. The Pioneers lost to the Hawks 1-0 in Pool Play in last year's national championship.
• The Piooners captured the 2022 NJCAA DII Men's Soccer National Championship after going 19-5.
• Marshalltown, under first-year head coach Chris Fuchsen, went 8-8-2 overall last year, advancing to the NJCAA Region 11 Championship semifinals.
• Dating back to the 2019 season, Indian Hills is 3-3-2 overall vs. Marshalltown, including two consecutive victories over the Tigers.

SCOUTING THE FIELD (WOMEN'S)

The IHCC Soccer Complex will play host to some of the top women's programs in the nation this weekend, including the two-time defending national champions.

• Iowa Western, ranked No. 1 in the preseason national polls, has captured back-to-back national championships.
• Indian Hills' lone ICCAC foe, the Reivers posted a 18-0-0 record last year on their way to the program's third national title.
• A perennial national power, Navarro College (TX) enters the weekend ranked No. 7 in the preseason NJCAA polls after advancing to last year's national championship.
• The Bulldogs have advanced to the national tournament 11 times in program history, including the 2013 national runners-up.
• Illinois Central posted an 11-6-2 overall record last year and have won 35 games over the last three seasons.
• Indian Hills and Illinois Central have met five times over the previous three seasons, with an even 2-2-1 record for both squads.

HOW TO WATCH

As always, GoHillsTV provides free live broadcasts of Indian Hills men's and women's soccer matches. Fans can tune in a number of ways all season long:

• Facebook: visit www.facebook.com/gohillstv
• GoHillsTV App: Download the GoHillsTV app on your android or ios device
• Website: https://www.gohillstv.com/browse to catch all live and archived information
• Roku Streaming Device:  Have a Roku TV or streaming stick? Download the GoHillsTV app to start streaming today!

WHAT'S NEXT

The Indian Hills Men's Soccer squad will continue its homestand with a nonconference matchup against NJCAA Midwest District foe Lincoln Trail College (IL) at 3:00 PM on August 28. The Indian Hills Women's Soccer squad will hit the road for a nonconference neutral site contest in Council Bluffs, IA. The Warriors will take on Western Nebraska Community College at 1:00 PM on August 31.

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