NAIA releases men's soccer national championship pairings
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the NAIA officially released the pairings for the 2009 Men’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round. There will be 30 teams participating at 15 different sites on Saturday, Nov. 21. The winners of the National Championship Opening Round games, in addition to host school Fresno Pacific (Calif.), will advance to the National Championship final site Nov. 30 - Dec. 5 in Fresno, Calif.
This year’s 31 teams include 24 automatic qualifiers, six at-large bids and the host school, Fresno Pacific. The seeds are based on each team’s Longo rating. There has been a different national champion in each of the last seven events.
The Cougars Longo rating earned them a No. 14 ranking and the ability to host on Saturday. Columbia will welcome Midland Lutheran (Neb.) College to R. Marvin Owens Soccer Stadium for the Opening Round. The Warriors are making their first ever trip to the National Championship.
Midland Lutheran’s program is an automatic qualifier after defeating top seeded Hastings (Neb.) College 1-0 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. The Warriors were the No. 7 team entering their conference tournament. They defeated the No. 2 and 3 seed on their way to the tournament championship. The Warriors have two all-conference players on their squad in Jake Corum and Reifer Johnson. Midland Lutheran is 10-8-1 on the season.
For a complete listing of pairings and more information on the 2009 Men’s Soccer National Championship visit www.naia.org.
Game time for Saturday’s, November 21st match-up is set for 4:00 p.m. and will be audio webcast live at www.columbiacougars.com.