Daytona Beach, FL – The trip, as expected, was long.

Sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-80’s and beachfront housing made it worth every minute.

The Goshen College men’s soccer team arrived in Daytona Beach, Florida just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, officially marking the program’s first trip to the NAIA National Championships since the 1977 season. Just four days after beating Cornerstone University for the NAIA Region VIII Championship in low 40-degree weather (click here for related article), Goshen (15-5-3, 6-1-1) will face 14th-seed Park University Wednesday afternoon in downright balmy conditions at host institution Embry Riddle University.

The team spent Monday at practice, photo shoots and the official NAIA National Championship Banquet, giving head coach Tavi Mounsithiraj virtually no time to sit back and let things sink in.

“The thing about all of this is that it’s a little overwhelming,” Mounsithiraj said Tuesday evening. “(Our coaching staff) has tried to do a good job of keeping the players focused on why we are here, but it all comes at you fast. We haven’t had time to really catch our breath since getting off the bus this morning.”

Goshen departed from campus just before 11 a.m. Monday morning (see sendoff video link to the right) and made the 21-hour trip via charter bus with minimal stops, looking to get to Daytona Beach before its scheduled 11 a.m. arrival. And while the team accomplished its goal, NAIA requirements and meetings made the few available hours in the hotel vanish quickly.

“It was a little bit of a long trip, but the guys entertained themselves with soccer videos and movies,” Mounsithiraj said. “We also got some pretty good sleep on the bus, so our schedules weren’t thrown too much out of whack.”

A tournament-allotted one-hour practice gave the squad a chance to work out on the fast track that is Embry Riddle’s facilities – grass in both the main stadium and the practice field is plush, and very short.

“I don’t think (the short turf) will cause too much of a problem for us,” Mounsithiraj said. “This is a very nice facility down here, but we have a nice facility too. The grass is a little bit shorter, but I think the big thing will be getting used to the heat. We haven’t had heat like this since the first week of training.”

After attending several coaches meetings and tournament procedural sessions, Mounsithiraj met his squad at the Daytona Speedway, where official NAIA team photos were taken in the stadium’s victory lane. Tuesday night’s NAIA National Championships banquet was held in the Busch Garage near the speedway’s pit row, allowing the 20 participating teams a true feel for the Daytona 500.

“Going to the speedway was pretty cool,” Mounsithiraj said. “There’s a lot of history there, and when you’re not from Daytona the first thing you think of is the race there. I really liked having the team picture taken in victory lane. That name kind of correlates to why we’re here in the first place.”

While victorious 15 times this season – the most wins in any of Mounsithiraj’s six years at the helm of the Leafs’ program – the team is one of only a handful at the tournament not to be used to the experience. Twelve of the 20 teams participating in this year’s championships were at last year’s tournament, including Goshen’s first opponent. Park made trips to the NAIA National Championships in 2005, 2004 and 2002, finishing runner-up in 2002 before an eligibility issue stripped the institution of that honor.

“The majority of the teams here were here last year, and even more have been here in the past five years or so,” Mounsithiraj said. “For us, it’s a little different. I don’t think we will be nervous, though. This whole season has been special for us. We’ve earned this trip, we didn’t just get lucky. We’ve played really well to obtain the chance we have.”

Park enters as the tourney’s 14th seed (Goshen is the 19th-seeded squad) and boasts a 13-7 overall record on the season. The Pirates faced six teams that were in the NAIA Top 25 at one point during the year, winning two of those six matches.

Park’s only recent common opponent to a Goshen team came in the form of Bethel College (KS) this season, a team that defeated Park by a 4-3 score in double overtime on Sept. 16. Goshen defeated Bethel in 2005 by a 4-1 score on Sept. 9 at the Goshen College Soccer Complex (click here for article).

“From looking at (Park’s) regular season, they played a lot of good teams, and that says a lot about a program,” Mounsithiraj said. “I think (Wednesday) should be a competitive match. The majority of Park’s team is international (in background) and the whole tournament has a strong international flare. For me, I’m focused on us being focused. We’ve played some really good teams this year, and I think our schedule will help us. I think we’re prepared as best as possible for this. We need to play our best game of the year tomorrow.”

Goshen will face Park at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Embry Riddle Soccer Stadium at the ICI Center. Live streaming video webcasts are available for purchase using the link to the right. 91.1 FM The Globe and www.globeradio.org will be broadcasting the event live as well. Game stats and NAIA recap will be available shortly following the game’s conclusion using the link to the right. This website will also be updated shortly following the Leafs’ first-round contest.