After of week of playoff soccer competition in Region III each of the top four Division III Soccer seeds has earned a Regional Championship and will continue their journey in search of a national title.  Top seeds Genesee Community College and Herkimer College will represent Region III at the Men's National Championship.  The women from Herkimer will be joined by Erie Community College at the Women's National Championship.

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Women's Championships

The 2017 Region III-Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournament was full of upsets.  The upsets started early as eleventh seeded Jamestown CC and tenth seeded Mohawk Valley CC picked up road wins in the quarterfinals of the tournaments opening round on Tuesday.  Jamestown would continue to play well advancing to the District B final with a 3-2 victory over third seeded Genesee CC in the semifinals.  Mohawk Valley's season would end in the semis with a 4-0 loss to the top seed in District B, Erie CC.  The District A final featured top overall seed Herkimer, a 5-0 winner over Onondaga CC, and fifth seeded Hudson Valley Community College.  HVCC advanced to the final with a 2-1 come from behind upset victory of fourth seeded Corning CC.

Herkimer got off to a fast start in the District A final as Hailey Couchman opening the scoring in the twelfth minute to give the Generals a 1-0 lead.  Herkimer would extend its lead to two when District A tournament MVP Mikayla Blumenstock scored the first of her three goals late in the first half.  Hudson Valley would cut then lead in half just before the intermission as Sydney Buhrke scored to cut the halftime lead to 2-1.  Blumenstock would tally the final two goals of the game in the second stanza to give Herkimer a 4-1 victory.

Erie would also get off to a quick start as they opened the scoring in the District B final in the seventh minute when tournament MVP Rachel Fiore found Hannah Parucki to give the Kats an early lead over the Jayhawks.  The lead would remain a single goal until late in the first half when Fiore converted a penalty kick in the 39th minute after a handball in the box by a Jamestown defender.  The Kats defense would hold in the second half as Erie would earn the championship with a 2-0 shutout victory.

The full tournament bracket can be found on the Women's Soccer Championships Page.

Herkimer and Erie advance to the NJCAA National Championship host by Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, NY.  The eight team tournament is scheduled for November 9-12.

Men's Championships

The Region III-Division III Men's Soccer Tournament also got underway on Tuesday with a pair of quarterfinal matchups.  Tenth seeded Finger Lakes CC scored the only tournament upset with a 5-1 victory over seventh seeded Hudson Valley to advance in the District B bracket while eighth seeded Tompkins Cortland CC shutout ninth seed Fulton-Montgomery CC 2-0 in the District A Bracket.  Three of the four semifinals resulted in shutout victories for the higher seeds.  In District A, top overall seed Genesee CC was dominant in a 7-0 victory over Tompkins Cortland.  In the matchup of the fourth and fifth seed Cayuga CC defeated SUNY Broome CC 5-1 to advance to the final.  Herkimer College ended Finger Lakes' run in the District B championship with a 5-0 victory while Onondaga CC shutout Erie CC 2-0 to advance to the tournament final.

Tournament Championship host, Genesee CC, earned its second shutout of the tournament with a 3-0 win over Cayuga.  The Cougars first tally came in the 29th minute when Ross White found the back of the net.  Genesee would extend its lead to 2-0 when Ben Wattis scored five minutes before the intermission on a pass from Glenn Holmes.  The final tally of the game came from Charlie Livesey with twenty minutes remaining in the contest.  For his efforts in goal, David Ormiston was named District A Most Valuable Player.

Herkimer and Onondaga would compete in a defensive first half as the two teams headed to halftime in a scoreless tie.  The Generals would open the scoring when Luke Murphy scored in the 62nd minute on a pass from Tyler Dobinson.  Murply would add a second goal just six minutes later and complete the hat trick seven minutes after that, scoring his three goals in 13 minutes of action.  Kadeem Joseph would add a final goal late in the contest as Herkimer earned a 4-0 victory over the Lazers.

The full tournament bracket can be found on the Men's Soccer Championships Page.

Herkimer will host the eight team Division III Men's Soccer National Tournament November 9-12.