Benjamin Shines in Berticelli Memorial Tournament!

SSU’s Josiah Benjamin produced a pair of solid performances over the opening weekend in NCAA play as he was selected into the Mike Berticelli Memorial All-Tournament team. His University of San Diego Toreros matched up, on the road, against two top ten ranked opponents. Starting on the road against two of the top ranked schools in the US, was always going to be a difficult task, but San Diego stepped up to the plate and run both the University of Notre Dame (#10) and Indiana University (#7) close.

Losing 2-0 to the fighting Irish of Notre Dame in their opening fixture, San Diego’s defence anchored by ‘the wall’ Josiah Benjamin, held firm and limited ND to minimal scoring opportunities. Big tackles, interceptions and commanding the backline were characteristics that Benjamin displayed. A natural athlete, who is extremely quick across the grass, #JB5 will be critical to San Diego’s success this fall. Just two days later, an agonising defeat to #7 Indiana University followed as the Toreros lost the tie 1-0 in overtime. An admiral performance in a game the Toreros will feel they could have won. Once again, playing superbly in defence the San Diego backline limited chances for the potent threat of the Indiana Hoosiers.

Benjamin was the only member of the San Diego backline to be selected to the Mike Berticelli Memorial All-Tournament Team for his outstanding play this past weekend. Notre Dame won the tournament due to a tie-breaker as they out scored runners up Indiana by 4-3. Starting the season in such commanding fashion will stand Benjamin in good stead for the rest of the fall season, as the San Diego Toreros look to take confidence from their titanic battles with some of the NCAA’s finest.

You can read about the performances of Josiah and the Toreros from this past weekend, here. Josiah's next game will be on Friday September 1st, as they host UC Santa Barbara in their home opener. To keep up to date with everything San Diego and #JB5, you can follow us on Twitter @SSUSAOfficial.