How UMKC’s men’s soccer team won 1st NCAA tourney home game in program history

UMKC

The University of Missouri-Kansas City has had a soccer program for 38 years.

Until Thursday night, however, that program had never played host to an NCAA tournament game.

The Roos (12-3-5) earned one with a stellar 2025 campaign, finishing as runners-up in the Summit League tournament. And on Thursday they defeated Lindenwood University 1-0 in front of a packed house at Durwood Stadium on the UMKC campus.

Kevin Nkumu’s goal — the first of his career — was the game-winner. Roos coach Ryan Pore said it was an emotional and memorable night for the program.

“This is a vision that we’ve had ever since we took the program over five or six years ago,” Pore said. “This night has been coming for a long time.”

UMKC won two tournament games last year to reach the round of 16. But those two wins — against St. Louis University and Missouri State — came on the road.

“We finally got what we deserved tonight,” Pore said. “Which was a great crowd, in our community, at an NCAA Tournament game.”

With the victory, Kansas City advances to the second round of the NCAAs, where the Roos will meet No. 12 overall seed Stanford (13-3-2) on Sunday. Match time for that one, at Stanford, is 7 p.m. Central.

UMKC dominated Lindenwood (14-3-4) in the first half but could not get one across the goal line. The Roos took 10 shots, hit the crossbar once and held possession for 61% of the time.

Roughly 10 minutes into the second half, the home team got its breakthrough. Mathiaus Baucher played a pass in behind the Lindenwood back line to Joackim Betina.

Betina’s cutback pass made its way through everyone to Nkumu’s late-arriving (yet perfectly timed) run.

Nkumu, a sophomore, blasted his shot first-time into the net and wheeled away in celebration to the corner flag.

“When the ball came, I knew that I was going to score,” he said. “That was a huge moment in front of the fans and on our field. It was very, very special for me.”

UMKC had multiple chances to double the lead but couldn’t find the back of the net again. And the host side nearly paid for it as Lindenwood had one last-gasp effort to equalize.

The ball fell perfectly for a chance to tie it, but KC’s Kenny Yedmel got a crucial block to seal the victory.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys and the effort they put forward,” Pore said.

Pore’s vision for KC Roos

Pore took over the program in 2020 and his teams began to pick up steam in the postseason. The Roos made the Summit League semifinals in 2021 and finished as runners-up in 2022 and 2023.

Before Pore’s tenure, the program had qualified for the NCAA Tournament just three times, in 2001, 2003 and 2008.

After four seasons, Pore and the Roos finally got their breakthrough with a stunning 90th-minute winner against powerhouse Denver to clinch the Summit League title and an automatic berth to the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

They would go on to upset St. Louis and Missouri State before losing to No. 2 seed Pittsburgh.

A year later they’ve returned, posting double-digit wins again and this time earning the program’s first home match. Pore, who played for the Kansas City Wizards from 2005-08, played college soccer at Tulsa and identified what was needed to take Roos soccer to the next level.

“I went to a program where we weren’t the biggest brand name, but we competed at a national level,” Pore said. “And I knew what it took.”

Once he felt he had the support of the university and administration, Pore said, the program moved forward.

“When I first got here, we hosted this game as a preseason game against Rockhurst,” Pore said, thinking back to how many people turned out. “Those were great games and all, but we wanted to play knockout football in front of the fans like tonight.”

The crowd on hand at Durwood, counted as 809 fans, was the largest all season, and the team’s largest of the past decade.

Team Captain Miguel Fernandez was stunned.

“Three years here, I’ve never seen Durwood like that,” he said.

The Roos certainly think there is more to come, too. Not just this year, but in the future.

“We have some of the best players in the whole country here in Kansas City playing college soccer,” Pore said. “It shouldn’t be hidden to anyone here in the community.

“I think sometimes it gets lost in the fact that we have other soccer things going on here, obviously, with the Current and Sporting. But we have legitimate players here. We have a legitimate team that’s competing at the top Division I level, and (has) done it for multiple years now.”

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com

This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 10:15 PM.