NAIA Soccer Qualifiers Announced

The Columbia College, Central Methodist, and Missouri Valley women’s soccer teams will all host matches this weekend in the first and second rounds of the NAIA National Tournament. The 5th-overall seed Columbia College will host a match Thursday between Benedictine and LSU-Alexandria, and face the winner of that match Saturday. 4th-seeded CMU will host a match between UC-Merced and Midland of Nebraska Thursday, and face that winner on Saturday. Missouri Valley, the 13th seed, will host Hastings of Nebraska Saturday, as Hastings also earned a first-round bye. This year’s 40-team field includes 27 automatic qualifiers and 13 at-large selections. Sixteen teams will advance to the final site at Foley, Alabama, November 27th through December 4th.

The men have the same format, with 16 teams advancing to the final site in Wichita, Kansas, on the same dates. Columbia College has a second round match at #10 Bethel of Tennessee Saturday, and #12 Missouri Valley hosts Cumberland of Tennessee that day.