Grand Canyon Hosts Region I Champion Cochise in Spring Exhibition After Lopes ID Camp

PHOENIX — Grand Canyon's spring Sunday started with recruits and ended with a junior college champion. The Lopes spent March 22 running their spring ID camp on campus, then hosted Cochise College, the reigning NJCAA Region I and West District champion, in a 3 p.m. exhibition at the GCU soccer stadium.

Neither program has released a score, a box score or a recap of the match. Cochise's official schedule lists the game as "at Grand Canyon University" with a note that it does not count in the Apaches' overall record, and no result is posted beside it. What can be pieced together from official sources is why the afternoon mattered to both sides.

Camp in the Morning, Match in the Afternoon

GCU built the day around recruiting. The program's spring ID camp ran from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for players in eighth through 12th grade and junior college players, according to the camp's registration page, and was capped at 90 players. The page said head coach Chris Cissell would direct the camp with the full GCU coaching and support staff. It billed the exhibition as the day's finale, played in GCU's soccer stadium, and encouraged families to stay and watch it.

For Grand Canyon, the spring was a bridge between two Mountain West seasons. The Lopes went 8-8-2 overall and 3-5-2 in league play in 2025, their first year in the conference, according to GCU's official schedule.

Cochise Arrived With a Banner Year Behind It

Cochise came to Phoenix off the best season in program history. The Apaches upset top-seeded Arizona Western 1-0 in Yuma to win their first NJCAA Region I title, with goalkeeper Marissa Tamayo making 11 saves, then beat nationally ranked Snow College 2-1 on the road for the program's first West District title, according to the college. That sent Cochise to its first NJCAA Division I national tournament as the No. 12 seed.

In Enid, Oklahoma, the Apaches lost 6-0 to No. 1 Daytona State, then rallied from two goals down to beat No. 8 Monroe 3-2 in double overtime on a 107th-minute goal from Maria Ibarra. Head coach Santos Rangel was named the 2025 NJCAA West District Coach of the Year.

A Busy Arizona Weekend for the Apaches

The trip was the back half of a weekend double. Cochise's spring exhibition schedule, released Feb. 11, had the Apaches at home in Douglas against the AZ Cardinals club team on March 21 before the trip to Phoenix the next day. Their spring also included road dates at Northern Arizona, Arizona State and New Mexico State, and the college described the full slate as a mix of NCAA Division I opponents and elite club programs meant to prepare the team for the fall.

David Venezia's photos from the afternoon show the Lopes in purple and Cochise in white-and-black hoops with red sleeves, with the Apaches' goalkeeper in orange, on a sunny afternoon along the purple fencing of GCU's field.

No Score, but a Clear Purpose

Spring exhibitions are built for evaluation more than standings, and neither school has posted a result for this one. For GCU it was a showcase in front of prospective recruits. For Cochise it was another test against Division I competition as the Apaches looked to follow the most successful fall in their history.

Photo Credit: David Venezia/Undrafted