YUMA, Ariz. – After leading the Arizona Western Men's Soccer to the NJCAA DI Men's Soccer Championship in Melbourne, Fla., this past fall, Nozomu Kamei will make a return trip to Melbourne after signing with Florida Institute of Technology.

Kamei played in 51 career games and made 24 starts over three seasons at Arizona Western College, scoring 25 goals and recording nine assists. The right winger is coming off a season in which he recorded a career-high six assists and scored eight goals to help the Matadors to their second consecutive National Runner-Up finish at the 2022 NJCAA DI Men's Soccer Championship.

The native of Kobe, Japan put together a pair of two-goal games in his sophomore season, scoring twice in the second game of the season against Southern Nevada on August 19 and doing so in the very next game against the Coyotes on August 27 in the first home game of the season.

Kamei was named Second Team NJCAA All-American for his efforts in 2022 and was also named a United Soccer Coaches All-American in addition to All-ACCAC and All-Region.

In his second season with Arizona Western, Kamei scored a career-best 13 goals in 23 games in 2021 and was named First Team All-Region and Second Team All-ACCAC. Kamei scored five goals in 11 games as a freshman in the 2021 fall season.

Florida Institute of Technology is an NCAA DII institution that competes in the Sunshine State Conference. The Panthers finished last season with a 10-1-7 record and reached the third round of the NCAA DII Men's Soccer National Tournament. Former Arizona Western College Men's Soccer player Hugo Catherine is entering his senior season at Florida Tech.