NAIA National Soccer Championship starts Nov. 27 in O.B.

NAIA National Soccer Championship starts Nov. 27 in O.B.

Fifteen teams punched their ticket to next week’s 2017 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship at the Orange Beach Sportsplex during opening round games on college campuses around the country. The 15 first round winners will join host institution Mobile College for the remainder of the single-elimination championship from Nov. 27 – Dec. 2, including 15 of the top 16 seeds. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-championship tournament package is $29.95.
The only upset came via No. 6 Keiser (Fla.) going down at the hands of Tennessee Wesleyan by a 2-1 score. Tennessee Wesleyan notches its first-ever championship win in its third trip.
Defending national champion University of Northwestern Ohio handled William Woods (Mo.) by a 5-0 score today. Led by a pair of goals by Camilla Andersen, the Racers poured in four second-half goals in the victory.
Unseeded Tennessee Wesleyan was the lone visiting team to win today. The Lady Bulldogs knocked off host No. 6 Keiser. Coming into today’s match, Keiser had won seven of their previous eight Opening Round home contests.
After Vanguard (Calif.) recorded a 4-0 shutout of Northwest (Wash.), the Lions moved their Opening Round record to 5-0-2 all-time. The Lions boast the longest active Opening Round unbeaten streak at seven.
With three champions today, the Golden State Athletic Conference and Southern States Athletic Conference send the most representatives to the final site 16-team championship field
Overall No. 1 seed Martin Methodist (Tenn.), who boasts the top seed for the first time since 2005 when it was the national champion, survived a 1-0 overtime victory against Bryan (Tenn.). The RedHawks improve to 9-1 in the Opening Round, with all of the matches coming at home. Host teams went 14-1-0 overal in the opening round. In those 14 wins, the hosts out-scored the visiting club by a 38-2 margin. Since the Opening Round format began in 2008, the hosts improve to 122-19-11 all-time. Last year, the hosts went 13-2-0. Martin Methodist is the only program in history to host openking rounds each previous year – 2017 marks the 10th-consecutive home match for the RedHawks. The 3-0 Oklahoma Wesleyan victory over Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) today snapped the Blue Raiders nine-straight Opening Round win streak.
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NAIA Soccer Schedule
Sunday, Nov. 26
Opening Banquet: 6 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 27
11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 28
11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 29
Quarterfinals – 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 30
Semifinal Banquet
Friday, Dec. 1
Seminfinals – noon and 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 2
3 p.m. (championship match)