UC Merced Earns #15 Seed in NAIA Men's Soccer Bracket

The NAIA has released the teams and host sites for the 66th Annual NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship. The 40-team field starts the NAIA National Championship First & Second Rounds presented by Select Sport America, at 16 campus locations from November 21st to 23rd.  California Pacific Conference regular season co-champion and postseason tournament winner UC Merced earned its eighth consecutive automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship.  The Bobcats (12-0-3) will travel to Baldwin City, Kan., to play Baker (12-7-1) in a Second Round match this Saturday, Nov. 23.  Winners of the 2024 NAIA Men's Soccer Second Round will travel to Kansas for the final site at the Scheels Strykler Sports Complex from Dec. 2-9, 2024.

First and Second round Schedule| Championship Bracket

This year's championship field includes 24 automatic qualifiers and 16 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament as determined by each conference qualification plan. The at-large bids were determined by the NAIA Men's Soccer National Selection Committee. The committee consists of one representative from each Area Ranking Committee, a representative from the National Administrative Council, the President of the Soccer Coaches Association, three at-large athletics administrators and an at-large coach. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria.

All championship first and second-round matches will be video streamed by the host.

The NAIA Men's Soccer Championship is broadcast FREE on Urban Edge Network and the newly redesigned NAIA Network for all matches at the final site in Wichita, Kansas. 

Qualifier Highlights

• The Heart of America Athletic Conference and Crossroads League lead the way with five teams each into the championship field
• Carroll (Mont.), Clarke (Iowa), Marian (Ind.), and Xavier (La.) all reached the national championships for the first time in program history
• Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) paces the field with 31 trips to the championship followed by 24 for Mobile (Ala.) and Rio Grande (Ohio)
• Eight qualifying teams have won a Red Banner with the Blue Raiders having nine, the Red Storm and Hastings (Neb.) Broncos two each, and one for Bethel (Ind.), Keiser (Fla.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Missouri Valley, and Mobile (Ala.)
• Oklahoma Wesleyan boasts the longest win streak in the country at 19 while Dalton State (Ga.) and Milligan (Tenn.) have not suffered a defeat on the year
• Twenty-three teams in the 2024 field also qualified for the national championships a year ago
• Overall, the qualifiers are 512-132-112 on the season for a 75.1% winning percentage out of 756 total matches
• Wildcats is the most popular mascot in the field with three while there are two Crusaders, Eagles, and Pilots
• For a full look at all of the First & Second Round brackets and matchups, CLICK HERE