NAIA Men's Soccer Postseason Play Kicks Off on Thursday With Opening Rounds
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The first round of the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship ignites around the nation on Thursday, Nov. 20, with eight matches. The action will continue on Saturday, Nov. 22, with 16 second-round matches. Teams that advance out of those rounds will pack their bags and head to Orange Beach, where final site action will commence on December 1 and continue through December 8, until one team stands alone and is crowned a champion.
Select games will air on Urban Edge Network throughout the first and second rounds, carrying matches on campuses that elected to opt-in to UEN coverage in the postseason. The NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship final site will air on both NAIA Network and Urban Edge Network, with links to URLs, apps, and smart TV information at www.naia.org/watch.
THURSDAY GAMES, NAIA FIRST ROUND
Carroll (Mont.) vs Wiley (Texas) at 7 p.m. CT in Lebanon, Tenn.
- For the second consecutive season, the Carroll Men's Soccer team will compete in the NAIA Men's Soccer Championship
- Wiley enters the tournament on the heels of winning the 2025 HBCU Athletic Conference Championship match
- Carroll (13-3-3) earned an at-large bid out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference
- The Saints have 10 more goals scored on the season (40-30), and a substantial advantage in goals allowed
- The Wildcats (9-3-2) make their second NAIA National Championship appearance, with their first coming in 2015 when it won the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament
- Wiley is looking to make history with its first NAIA postseason victory
- The winner will face Cumberland (Tenn.)
Dalton State (Ga.) vs Warner Pacific (Ore.) at 1:30 p.m. ET in West Palm Beach, Fla.
- For the seventh consecutive season, Dalton State Men's Soccer is headed to the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship
- Dalton State was last year's champion
- Dalton State enters the tournament as an at-large selection from the Southern States Athletic Conference
- The Knights come in with a record of 14-4-2
- Warner Pacific makes its seventh appearance in the national tournament
- This will be the first meeting between the two teams
- The winner will face Keiser (Fla.)
Ottawa (Kan.) vs Harris-Stowe (Mo.) at 1 p.m. CT in Columbia, Ky.
- The Hornets men's soccer team won the American Midwest Conference Tournament
- Antonio Natalucci was named the KCAC Freshman of the Year
- The winner will play Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
- Harris-Stowe was the American Midwest Tournament Champion
- Ottawa was the KCAC Tournament Champion
- This is the first meeting between the two teams
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) vs Union Commonwealth (Ky.) at 1 p.m. CT in McKenzie, Tenn.
- This trip marks Union's sixth overall appearance in the NAIA National Championship field and its third straight berth.
- Under Head Coach Jonathan Shaw, the Bulldogs have now qualified for the national tournament four times.
- Rocky Men's Soccer begins its seventh trip to the NAIA National Tournament on Thursday afternoon
- The Battlin' Bear offense averaged 2.71 goals per game
- Rocky's CCC Tournament Semifinal loss to eventual tournament champions Warner Pacific was just the second loss of the season for the Battlin' Bears, recording an unbeaten streak of 12 games
- Rocky Men's Soccer holds a NAIA National Tournament record of 2-7-2 in its six previous qualifying seasons. All six of their qualifying bids were made between 2012 and 2020
- Union Commonwealth is ranked first in the NAIA this season in defense, allowing just five goals and averaging 0.28 goals allowed per game
- Union Commonwealth also led the NAIA in shutouts, totaling 15 this season
- The winner will take on Bethel (Tenn.)
Eastern Oregon vs Concordia (Neb.) at 1 p.m. in Olathe, Kan.
- The Mountaineers fell to Bushnell University in penalty kicks during the conference tournament semifinals, their regular-season title secured an automatic bid to the national tournament
- Eastern Oregon enters the tournament with a 13-0-5 record as the Cascade Conference Champions
- This is Eastern Oregon's second consecutive trip to the national tournament
- Concordia is 0-2 in its two previous trips to the NAIA national tournament
- This is the first meeting between the two programs
- The winner will face MidAmerica Nazarene
LSU Alexandria (La.) vs Milligan (Tenn.) at 2 p.m. ET in Marietta, Ga.
- LSUA received an at-large bid for the first time in program history after finishing the season with a record of 14-3-1.
- The Generals recorded a pair of wins over ranked opponents, to book end their season, in No. 3 William Carey University and No. 22 Xavier (La.).
- It is the fourth time in program history the Generals have made the NAIA National Championship.
- Milligan makes its sixth straight appearance in the NAIA men's soccer national championship tournament.
- The Buffs finished the 2025 campaign with a record of 11-6-2. They fell in the AAC Tournament in the final to Union (Ky.), 1-0
- Kerim Akpinar led the Buffs in both goals and points. He has tallied 13 goals and two assists for 31 points.
- The winner will face Life (Ga.)
Oklahoma City vs Wetcliff (Calif.) at 4 p.m. CT in Bartlesville, Okla.
- This will be the first meeting between OCU and Westcliff
- OCU is outscoring opponents by an average of 4-1 in three postseason games
- Six current Stars started and three others played in OCU's national tournament games last year
- Westcliff won the California Pacific Conference Tournament with a 4-0 win over 1-12-4 Simpson
- The Warriors come into the Opening Round at 11-4-2 on the season and were 34th in the final poll of the season.
- OKWU capped off an incredible year as the KCAC regular-season champion, finishing with an unbeaten 12-0-1 conference record
- The Stars have outscored opponents by a 47-16 margin this season, allowing six first- and 10 second-half goals
- The winner will face Oklahoma Wesleyan
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) vs La Sierra (Calif.) at 5 p.m. CT in Mishawaka, Ind.
- Olivet earned an automic bid to the national tournament by winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.
- The Tigers return to the national tournament for the first time since 2023, where they lost in the first round to LSU Shreveport (La.) by a score of 1-0 in 2OT.
- Olivet only has one national tournament win in its history, which came back in 2012.
- Olivet was second in the NAIA in goals (86) on the season
- La Sierra were regular season champions and GSAC Champions in their debut season
- This is the first meeting between the two programs
- The winner will verse Bethel (Ind.)
