FHSU Athletics
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State saw its magical 2025 season come to an end on Friday evening in the NCAA National Semifinals. The Tigers had a slew of offensive opportunities in the second half, but never found an equalizer in a 1-0 loss to Rollins College (Fla.). The Tigers saw their 23-match unbeaten streak snapped and closed the season at 20-1-3 overall, the best record in program history.
This was Fort Hays State's second trip to the national semifinals, the first being 2018, and the Tigers were eliminated by a school from Florida for the second time as well. FHSU and Barry played to a scoreless draw back in 2018 and Barry advanced to the title game on penalty kicks.
The Tigers had a tough time finding a rhythm and opportunities early. Rollins applied some offensive pressure early and caught the Tigers scrambling a few times to get the ball cleared from danger. The Tars broke through in the 24th minute when Justin Nelson struck in close range off a crossing pass from Jordan Proulx. The Tars limited one of the nation's top offenses to just four shots in the first half and Rollins keeper Killian Vallant had to make just one save.
In the second half, the Tigers dictated offensive play and continued to apply pressure on Vallant in goal. Unfortunately for the Tigers, many of the opportunities were just in the right spots to not get strong enough attacks on the ball. The Tigers did fire off several shots that missed just wide of the net that would have beat Vallant, but never could get a deadly strike to stay inside the frame.
Fort Hays State shelled Rollins with 20 shots in the second half and ended up outshooting Rollins 24-10 in the game. Elias Ovelar Semeniuk had a bundle of the second half shots and finished the game with eight to lead the Tigers.
The officials even reviewed a pair of plays within the final 15 minutes of the match on incidents in the box, but neither was enough to produce a penalty kick opportunity for the Tigers.
Payton Roehrich finished with four saves in goal for the Tigers, while Vallant of Rollins finished with seven.
The Tigers were shutout for the first time since October 23, when they played to a scoreless draw with conference foe Southern Nazarene in Hays. The Tigers had scored multiple goals in their last eight games entering the national semifinal. The only two times the Tigers were shutout in the regular season, the match ended in a draw (CSU Pueblo being the other opponent).
The Tigers set so many new program standards in 2025, navigating the regular season and conference tournament unbeaten. The Tigers maintained that unbeaten run through three NCAA Tournament games to secure the Super Region title. The Tigers have put together an impressive 33-5-7 overall record in Alex Nichols' two years at the helm.