Northeastern Junior College

Northeastern JC Athletics
100 College Ave Sterling, CO 80751

NJCAA Colorado Southwest

Public Small Developing team

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Coaches

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Chance Vang

Chance Vang was named the new head coach for the Northeastern Men’s Soccer program in August of 2021. In his first season as the new head coach, he led his team to its best start in program history and were ranked as high as No. 18 in the country. Vang also coached a total of 5 players who were selected to the All Region Teams in 2021.

Vang joined the Northeastern Women’s Soccer program as an assistant coach in March of 2021. He helped lead the program to its deepest run in postseason history before falling short in the Region IX Semi-Final match against Laramie County who were ranked No. 6 in the country.

In 2020, coach Vang served as the Assistant GM for the Colorado Rush USL2 where he was eventually promoted to general manager. At 23, Vang became one of the youngest GMs in American sports, and was also the first Hmong-American to become an executive in American soccer history. He also served as an Academy staff coach and Director of Digital Media & Marketing for the Colorado Rush Youth Academy.

From 2016-2018, he began his college soccer career with the Northeastern Men’s Soccer program where he led the Plainsmen in assists. In 2016, as a freshman, Vang was a part of a team who were statistically the most improved program in all levels of college men’s soccer after a winless 2015 season. In his sophomore year, the Plainsmen made the deepest run in program history reaching the Region IX Championship Game in 2017. Vang also earned a selection to the Region IX All-Tournament First Team that year. He graduated from Northeastern with an Associate of Art.

Vang then transferred to University of Wisconsin- Parkside where he spent his final two years of his college soccer career and helped the team to the GLIAC regular season and tournament earning an automatic bid into the NCAA DII National Tournament in 2019. In the spring of 2020, Chance graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Parkside with a Bachelor’s of Science in Sports Management.

Vang spent part of his youth career with the Colorado Rapids MLS Academy and Colorado Rush Academy teams. The Rush were ranked 19th in the country heading into the USSDA National Playoffs in 2014. During the 2012 season, he led the Rapids to a Colorado State Cup Championship and was also named the Colorado State MVP.

“As a former alum here, this felt like the perfect opportunity because of the passion I have for NJC Athletics and the institution. I hope to continue to help build this program’s winning tradition and develop not only great student athletes, but even better people.” Vang also added, “Although winning is important, I am a firm believer that an individual’s character is more valuable than anything else someone can bring to the pitch. We have players coming from different cultures, backgrounds and parts of the world; my goal is to provide the best experience possible while giving everyone the chance to come together and genuinely love, care, and support their Northeastern family.”

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James Westfield

In July of 2022, Coach James Westfield entered his first season with Northeastern Junior College as the Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach.

Before arriving at Northeastern, James was previously a Graduate Assistant Coach at Hastings College for the Women’s Soccer team in Hastings, Nebraska. Hastings College had a record of 25-11-1 for both seasons while James was coaching there. During his time at Hastings, the Broncos made the conference tournament both seasons and reached the semi-final in 2021. As a GA Assistant Coach, there were a total of 13 players who made the All-Conference teams in two years.

James attended and played soccer at Patrick Henry Community College for his freshmen year in 2016-17. Here, James scored a total of 18 goals and was named All-American. After his freshmen year, James transferred to Wayland Baptist University where he won a National Championship in 2017. Coach Westfield ended his soccer career with 2 Conference titles, 1 Conference-Tournament title, was named to the All-Conference First-Team three consecutive years and ended as All-Time Top Goal Scorer for Wayland Baptist University. James also played two seasons with the Duluth FC in the NPSL. In those two seasons, James was named to the North Conference XI team in both seasons and was also nominated for the Regional XI team twice.