Huntsville, Alabama - The Neosho panthers opened their national tournament pool play on Sunday with a 1-0 win over #11 Heartland Community College. The goal came from an 87^th minute winner from #9 Callum Niven from the penalty spot. #2 Neosho had to dig deep and took a very strong performance from #1 Grant Thackray to earn his 11^th clean sheet of the season.

The panthers then had one day to recover for their second pool play game of the tournament against #7 Pearl River. The panthers really excelled in this game, winning 4-3. The panthers first goal scored by #4 Luke Butcher from a smart cross from #3 Joe Taylor. #9 Callum Niven then scored 3 goals to push the panthers over the line. The four goals scored by Callum, put him to 24 goals on the season.

The panthers will take on #3 Iowa Lakes in the National Semi Final in Huntsville Thursday Nov. 21st at 5.30PM. This will be the third time the teams have met this season. Game one, Lakes won 3-1, game two left the panthers victories with a 2-0 victory and led them to their district championship.