2007 Season Review

The 2007 season saw the Fire trying to make history by repeating as NCCAA II National Champions.

With 12 returning players from SEU's 2006 championship team, the Fire advanced in 2007 to the NCCAA II National Championship game with a chance to repeat.

And with a 1-0 lead late in the second half of that game versus No. 1 seed Manhattan Christian, SEU looked like they might make history.

But, MCC's Greg Klass scored the game-tying goal with just 5:47 remaining to send the 2007 National Championship game into overtime.

The Fire regrouped, but they couldn't pull off a second straight national championship as Klass scored the game-winner just 3:16 into overtime.

"Overall, it was a good year, and we did really well to get where we did," said Fire Head Coach Drew Stacey after the championship game.

And it was a solid year for the Fire, which ended up ranked second nationally and finished the year with a 16-5-1 overall record.

SEU repeated as South Region Champions, defeating Clearwater Christian in the South Region Championship game, 3-0, in a penalty kick shootout.

Coach Stacey and the Fire have won three South Region titles in four years.

Bart Sheldrake, Ryan Rogers, George Arroyo, Jon Jones, and Andrew Prevost were all named First Team All-Region in 2007.

John Peter Louine, Vijay Chandra, and Adam Clark were all awarded Second Team All-Region honors.

Rogers was named the 2007 NCCAA II National Tournament Most Valuable Player, while Jacob Bloodworth's four goals in three games in the 2007 national tournament earned him All-Tournament honors.

Coach Stacey will lose four seniors from this year's group: Jon Jones, George Arroyo, Joe Lovette, and Ryan Kirk.

However, Coach Stacey's 2008 roster should still have plenty of experience returning: six juniors will become seniors and help give a young Fire squad valuable experience heading into next season.