HAMILTON, Bermuda - Liam Evans, a sophomore midfielder on the Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team, will represent his home country of Bermuda in the final round of the Under-20 World Cup qualifier, which will be held in Costa Rica from Feb. 17- March 5.
 
In order to earn a berth into the championship, Bermuda had to be among the top five sides in Caribbean qualifying. The U20 World Cup qualifying campaign began in the summer of 2016 in Haiti. Evans served as team captain and scored a pair of goals against Cayman Islands before the team went on to earn a bronze medal in the Caribbean Championships in Curacao this past October when Evans was playing for the Norse.
 
"Playing with the national team and representing your country is definitely something special. There's no feeling quite like it," said Evans. "This is also the furthest a Bermudian U20 team has made it in the World Cup qualifier since the 1980's, so it is nice to be a part of history. We are a very small island, so something like this really instills a lot of pride and gets everyone excited."
 
Evans has been a part of the National Team since playing for the U17 squad in the Open Cup in Alabama in 2013. He has been involved with the national academy since age 13.
 
The sophomore will head to a brief training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before making the trip to Costa Rica for the championship on Friday.
 
For Northern Kentucky this past season, Evans appeared in 13 of NKU's 18 matches, making three starts and helping the Norse post a trio of shutouts.
 
"It isn't every day that we are involved in a tournament with the likes of USA, Mexico, and Costa Rica," added Evans. "I hope to take my experiences from this trip and keep improving so I can come back to NKU a better player."