WICHITA, Kan. - [FINAL SITE SCHEDULE | BRACKET] The 2023 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship finished Round of 16 play on Tuesday, November 28th at Scheel's Stryker Soccer Complex. When play was all said and done, two favorites, and two lower seeds will continue their Red Banner dreams and advance to Thursday's Quarterfinal Round.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

Indiana Tech (14-4-5) defeats No. 15 Keiser (Fla.) (12-4-6), 2-1

• The tight affair had seen the teams play deadlocked for the first 35 minutes of the contest, with the same number of shots for each side (6)
• An errant slide tackle in the box by the Warriors resulted in an awarded penalty kick by Keiser’s Mikael Baisotti, who put the Seahawks up 1-0 on his 13^th goal of the season
• Heading into the intermission, Indiana Tech held a 8-6 edge in total shots taken and 3-2 in shots on goal; neither team had been called offside or been awarded a corner kick
• Methodically connecting passes together, Indiana Tech got the equalizing in the 58^th minute; Felix Jung set the table and Douglas Appiah Kubi sunk his fourth of the year
• With the score knotted 1-1, the teams dug in and it seemed as if overtime was in the cards, but Warren Moss had ideas of his own
• An incredible individual effort by Moss saw him dribble from the left wing into the middle and blast the game winner into the upper V with just over three minutes left
• Indiana Tech outshot the opposition 19-11 forcing Keiser to lead 8-3 in saves
• Only a total of three corner kicks were taken by the two clubs, but the physical nature of the contest was evident by 28 combined foul calls
• Santiago Nebot (L, 12-4-6) stopped eight of 10 shots that came his way while David Martinez (W, 7-3-3) got his gloves on three
• Appiah Kubi tallied a game high five shots with four on target; Luke Jones fired off four for the Warriors as six total players attempted multiple shots in the contest
• In the loss, Fami Konate released the most shot attempts at three followed by a pair from Noah Southwell from his defensive position

No. 7 Oklahoma Wesleyan (17-1-4) ties Columbia (Mo.) (13-4-5), 2-2, advances 5-4 on shootout

• The first 45 minutes of play was deadlocked with nearly identical counts in the four major statistical areas: OKWU led 9-8 in shots, 3-2 in corner kicks, and 5-4 in fouls while CC held a 2-1 edge in saves
• The Cougars broke through and scored the first goal of the game in the 52^nd minute off a failed clearance by OKWU
• Carter Redford collected the ball and found the feet of Luke Hynes inside the 18-yard box before he went far post with the shot
• Nearly 90 seconds later, Columbia took advantage of another miscue by the Eagles defense and a lofted ball into the box by Miguel Gonzalez found the head of Nathan Durdle for the 2-0 lead
• With 29:36 left in the second half, Stefan Cvetanovic struck gold off his left foot and went near post to record his 39^th goal of the season
• As the game ticked under 10 minutes remaining, the OKWU offensive intensity increased as a near post header attempt from Matheus Ulrich was saved by the keeper and then a powerful right foot strike from Luis Vergara was blocked
• All of the pressure paid off as the Eagles netted the equalizer in the 86^th minute; a drawn corner kick set the table for Uros Aleksijevic to loft the back into the crowd and Vergara to flick the ball into the goal off his head
• This contest marked the second match of the Round of 16 to go into overtime and the second to be decided in a shootout
• The first four kickers each easily made their shootout attempt until Oliver Scott (T, 7-0-1) blocked Luke Sowerby’s attempt; this allowed Ulrich to push OWKU forward 5-4 on PK’s
• In 110 minutes of play, the Eagles posted nine more shots than the Cougars (27-18) and tallied 10 more corner kicks (13-3)
• Both teams had 20 fouls whistled on them while Columbia keeper Alejandro Molto Munoz (T, 10-3-4) stopped nine of the 11 shots he faced in goal

No. 14 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (14-4-4) defeats No. 3 Grace (Ind.) (15-5-2), 3-2

• With 37 left on the clock before the halftime intermission, the Pioneers flipped the field with Jony Munoz dribbling the ball up the left sideline; after dropping it off to Nicolas Theberge before Guilherme Galvao gifts Munoz the open opportunity
• At the break, MNU had nine total shots and seven on frame while the Lancers had been left without an attempt; the teams combined for five corner kicks
• Midway through the second half, MNU used the counter attack to build a 2-0 edge; less than two minutes after checking back into the game, Preston McKay received the through ball from Munoz and tapped it into the goal
• Needing a quick response, Grace got the first goal they needed at the 63:21 mark as Martim Sequeira scored his 21^st of the year set up by a beautiful pass by Joao Sousa just in front of the face of the goal
• In the 77^th minute, Nicolas Theberge received the long service pass behind the Lancer back line and found himself one-on-one with the GC keeper whom he easily chipped for the 3-1 advantage
• Grace kept at it, getting the score back to within a goal with just over five minutes remaining
• Sequeira corralled the ball on the end line and passed it right in front of the MNU frame, finding the foot of Daniel Santos Rosa for the 3-2 score
• The Pioneers defense was able to disband the last chance attempts from Grace and exit the game with the upset win
• MNU outshot the Lancers 16-3 but the difference in corner kicks was a marginal 6-5; Grace had a 3-1 difference in saves and a 15-6 gap in fouls called

No. 6 Bethel (Ind.) (18-2-3) defeats Westcliff (Calif.) (18-2-0), 2-0

• The Pilots returned to the championship field of play as the reigning Red Banner winners, defeating Mobile (Ala.) a year ago
• Westcliff reached the NAIA postseason for the first time, advancing to the first time to extend their record setting season
• The Warriors entered the game with the best record in the nation, winning 18 of their 19 contests this season
• Bethel began celebrating the game’s first goal in the 17^th minute, but the Pilots were called offsides which kept the score at 0-0
• In the first half, BU tallied seven shots and six corner kicks compared to one solo shot for the Warriors
• At 55:14, Westcliff’s slide tackle from behind in the 18-yard box resulted in a penalty kick attempt, which was successfully converted by Piero Sabroso – his 12^th of the year
• From the 56^th minute through the 72^nd minute, the Warriors generated a 3-1 edge in shots taken and forced BU goal keeper Mathis Neuhaus to make his second save of the contest
• The offensive pressure switched back in favor of the Pilots, culminating in Luan Bressy’s sixth goal this season – set up on the long feed from Thiago Dos Santos
• Inside four minutes remaining, Wissem Obeid ripped a solid shot off his right foot forcing BU keeper Neuhaus to punch the ball over the top of the crossbar
• During the final 70 seconds, Westcliff had two shots from close range, but they were blocked and then saved by Neuhaus to preserve the victory
• In all the Pilots outshot WU 13-7 and had a 7-2 difference in corner kicks taken