Five conferences were perfect on Day One as the GSAC and Sun had both teams win while River States, Crossroads, and WHAC had their lone representative win. The Red River, Sooner, Chicagoland, and Cascade lost all eight of their teams in the field. Nine conferences have one team remaining; additionally the Heart has the most teams remaining in the tournament with four. The GSAC, Sun, AMC, and Southern States have a pair of teams heading to Championship Saturday.

After a rest day on Friday, the two remaining squads in each bracket will battle it out on Saturday with a spot at the Final Site in Decatur, Ala. on the line. The 63rd Annual Men's Soccer NAIA National Championship will be played at Jack Allen Soccer Complex from November 30th through December 6th. 

Qualifier Highlights

• Bartlesville Bracket
• • Hosts Oklahoma Wesleyan scored three second half goals to propel them to victory
  • Governors State (Ill.) played from the 68^th minute on with 10 men on the field
  • The Eagles scored a pair of goals within five minutes of each other in the beginning of the second half
  • The Jaguars were outshot 13-6 overall and OKWU put 12 shots on frame
  • Lyon (Ark.) vs. Oregon Tech was the first game of the tournament to go to a shootout
  • The Scots march on with a 4-2 shootout victory with Andrei Galca hit the final PK necessary in the fourth slot
  • Much credit is to be given for the defense of the Owls for pushing the game being 2OT
  • OIT had three saves from keeper Joel Witts and three team saves as they faced 21 total shot attempts from Lyon
  • The Scots held a 15-5 edge in corner kicks and 12 more shot attempts
• Bellevue Bracket
• • Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) on the home pitch of the Bruins was a tight affair Both teams had four shots on goal and the same amount of cards/fouls
  • Bellevue (Neb.) generated eight more corner kicks, including the game winner being scored just before halftime off a corner
  • All of the scoring in the opening contest was finalized before the intermission
  • The game winner goal for MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) was sunk by Mathieu Ecourtemer in the 24^th minute off a free kick
  • Defensively, the Pioneer had five saves on 10 total Bulldog attempts
  • MNU took 16 shots including the insurance goal by Butoyi Issa on a breakaway 1v1 situation in the 80^th minute
  • Rick Hovinga tallied a game high five shot attempts for the Pioneers
• Columbia Bracket
• • Only four minutes into the match, the Cougars’ Nathan Durdle scored the game winning goal
  • Columbia (Mo.) would go on to add two second half goals to cruise to the win
  • The Cougars led all statistical categories including shots, goals, saves, corner kicks, and fouls
  • Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) took command of the match 12 minutes in off Nathaniel Opoku’s goal
  • Grand View had a chance to tie the match in the first half being awarded a penalty kick, but LWC keeper Henrequi Cavalini notched the save
  • In the 35^th minute, Alessandro Venditti found the equalizer for the Vikings
  • Nearing halftime, Monwabisi Mngqibisa put the Blue Raiders back in front
  • Starting the second half, Grand View once again tied the game – only 2:35 in – by Diego Leite
  • As the offenses sputtered with only four shots across the next 24 minutes, LWC broke the stalemate with what they thought game winner in the 72^nd minute
  • Not going down without a fight, the Vikings tied the game 3-3 in the 87^th minute on Aaron Williams goal
  • In the first OT period each team only managed one shot but no scores, while the second overtime saw Lindsey Wilson take a 3-0 margin in shots
  • Third time was the charm for the Blue Raiders taking the lead; Alexander Koziolek netted the game winner with only 25 remaining in double overtime via penalty kick
• Columbia - CMU Bracket
• • Central Methodist (Mo.) was out to prove a point on the pitch today and show why they are the top team in the country
  • The defense held Tabor (Kan.) without a shot in fulltime, while the offense generated 39 attempts
  • Billy Nzojyibwami scored a pair of goals and Vitor Antelo tallied a goal and an assist
  • Bluejays keeper Jesus Rondon battled to the tune of 13 saves in the game
  • Looking at the box score of regulation, the thought of overtime seemed unlikely as Rio Grande (Ohio) was offensively superior
  • Ezekiel Foltz kept the team in the game by stopping all eight shots he faced in regulation
  • Nearing the end of the first overtime period, the Red Storm finally broke through as Gabriel Silva scored his 17^th goal of the season
  • The Red Storm fired off 28 shots compared to just seven for the Red Raiders, as well as a 10-1 corner kick edge for URG
  • In all, Rio Grande launched 11 shots on goal while keeper Daniel Merino was not tested on his end of the field
• Costa Mesa Bracket
• • Upset alert! Marymount California outlasted the #3 team in the nation, giving them their only loss of the season
  • The Mariners scored only 44 seconds into the match off the foot of Leonel Perez
  • Both goals for MACU were sunk by Luan Cesar
  • Four of the five goals scored were done in the first 19 minutes of the game
  • Cade Flanagan’s unassisted goal found the back of the net at 18:35 and proved to be the game-winner
  • Hosts Vanguard (Calif.) outlasted Cumberland (Tenn.) as Nathaniel Gomez scored the only goal of the contest in the 71^st minute, assisted by Lucah Flores
  • Phoenix keeper Nicklaus Rulle recorded six saves on nine shots fired
  • James Choi only needed to tally one save for the Lions
  • The tight affair saw the teams nearly identical in shots taken, but Cumberland drew three more corners than VU
• Fort Wayne Bracket
• • The offense was potent today for Indiana Tech, scoring four goals off 16 shots
  • Antonio Marra records the game winner in the 43^rd minute
  • Marc Junca posts a hat trick with goals in the 51^st, 67^th, and 86^th minutes
  • Starting keepers Alexis Calderilla-Hurtado (WPU) and Jaume Salvado (IT) exited the contest at 72:51
  • William Penn (Iowa) rallied from trailing at halftime to win 3-1
  • In the third minute, Milligan (Tenn.) reached the scoreboard off a Statesmen own goal
  • A red card issued to the MU bench allowed Sagar Bhattarai to sink the penalty kick and tie the game
  • Luke Andrews, assisted by Aaron Keita, scored the go-ahead goal just three minutes later
  • The Statesman scored all three of their goals in a 7:57 of game time
  • WPU controlled the game offensively with a 20-6 edge in shots, 11-3 difference in shots on goal, and a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks
• Marshall Bracket
• • Missouri Valley defeated Hastings by scoring off two of their 16 corner kicks
  • Stevan Milosevic recorded a header in the 17^th minute, but The Broncos’ Tyler Mase hit the equalizer, inside the box off a free kick, just before intermission
  • Kazuki Hashimoto pushed the Vikings to the next round with the game winner in the 79^th minute
  • Despite outshooting Hastings 15-12, MVC keeper Dusan Milosevic was the busier keeper facing 10 shots
  • Bethel (Ind.) held a 2-0 lead after the intermission, despite being outshot by William Carey (Miss.) 9-4
  • The games’ first goal was scored by Matheus Santiago in the 10^th minute for BU
  • Adding to the lead, Naieem Bean found the back of the net in the 34^th minute from the top of the box
  • In the second half, the Crusaders poured on 11 more shot attempts, but the Pilot defense packed it in
  • No scoring happened after halftime as BU keeper Finn Popescu totaled five save for the clean sheet
• Miami Gardens Bracket
• • Although weather impacted the start times, the hosts St. Thomas (Fla.) found favor in the second half
  • Both squads having Bobcats as a mascot seemed poetic as the first half of play was scoreless
  • STU Bobcats scored after just 44 seconds of play
  • Six minutes later, Fernando Arzeno netted his second goal of the game
  • In the 85^th minute, Mark Oghogho scored his eighth goal of the season and Joaquin Domber picked up his second assist of the contest
  • STU posted 14 shots, three for UC Merced and an 11-2 difference in on target attempts
  • The final game to kick off at 9:00 p.m. local time – four hours late due to weather – both teams started out slow with a scoreless first 45 minutes of play
  • Despite Georgia Gwinnet hold an edge in shots to that point, Juaval Roberts scored the first goal for OUAZ, assist by Tinashe Simbo
  • After the 67:26 goal, the teams combined for only four total shots – three by The Grizzlies
  • Both keepers, Angel Ramirez and Matthew Wallace, tallied three saves each
  • Despite the loss, GGC held a strong edge in corner kicks and shots taken
• Mobile Bracket
• • Each club took to the field with 15 wins on the season, and the Rams left to continue their season
  • Rodrigo Paredes scored the first goal and record the last assist for Mobile (Ala.)
  • UM outshot UHV 13-5 as Rams keeper Antoine Bedos did not face a shot on goal during the 90 minutes
  • For the Jaguars Irankunda Bosco and Shola Abubakar both took two shots
  • Sohya Yamamoto scored the golden goal in OT to lift the Rams to victory with 2:22 remaining in overtime
  • Cumberlands (Ky.) took 15 shots compared to CIU’s 12
  • Patriots also controlled the corner kicks with a 8-3 edge
  • Yamamoto scored the game’s first goal in the 12^th minute
  • Cumberlands found the back of the net in the 80^th minute by Stephen Appiah
  • Rams keeper Hazel Ley recorded four saves in 97:38 in the net
• West Palm Beach Bracket
• • On paper, the goal count for Dalton State does not match the activity of the offense
  • The team tallied 18 shots compared to five for the Bulldogs
  • Justin Riescher scored the game’s only goal, assisted by Connor Nixon
  • Wynand Wessels recorded the only shot on goal for Tennessee Wesleyan
  • Florida National keeper Rodrigo Festuccia stopped six of the eight shots he faced
  • Keiser (Fla.) outshot FNU 21-14 and held a corner kick ratio of 10-1
  • Dario Salzer was 3-3 in shots/saves attempts for the Seahawks
  • Lukas Jacobs launched a game high five shots for KU while Constantino Higa was the high man for the Conquistadors with three

This year’s opening round field includes 27 automatic qualifiers and 13 at-large. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament or were awarded the conference automatic berth in the absence of a conference tournament. The at-large bids were determined by the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Selection Committee. This committee consists of one representative from each geographical area, a representative from the National Administrative Council, the president of the NAIA-Men’s Soccer Coaches Association, and three at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria.

• For a full look at all of the Opening Round tournaments and matchups, click HERE.
• All opening round matches will be streamed by the host institution. 

The NAIA Network – the association’s official video streaming home – will broadcast all eight matches live at the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship final site in Decatur, Ala. with the championship game being shown on ESPN3. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-championship tournament package is available at $34.95. For more information and to pre-register, click HERE.