WU, UCM On the Road for NAIA Opening Round

The NAIA has announced the teams and pairings for the 2024 NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship. The 40-team field will kick things off in the NAIA National Championship First & Second Rounds presented by Select Sport America, at 16 campus locations on Nov. 21-23.  Westcliff, the California Pacific Conference regular season co-champion and postseason tournament winner, advanced with the Cal Pac's lone automatic bid while UC Merced, regular season co-champ and tournament runner-up, earned an at-large bid to the national tournament.

The Warriors (12-0-2) travel to Caldwell, Ida., for an Opening Round match in the Caldwell Bracket against Hope International (14-4-1) this Thursday, Nov. 21.  The winner of that match will face OR host College of Idaho (17-0-2) on Saturday, Nov. 23, with the winner advancing to the Final Site in Pensacola, Fla., at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex from Dec. 2-9.

The Bobcats (10-3-2) find themselves on familiar territory for their Opening Round matchup.  UCM goes to Prescott, Ariz., to play former Cal Pac rival Embry-Riddle (15-2-3) this Saturday, Nov. 23.

First & Second Round Schedule

This year's championship field includes 26 automatic qualifiers and 14 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 Women's Soccer National Selection Committee. This committee consists of one representative from each geographical area, a representative from the National Administrative Council, the current and past president of the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches Association, and three at-large members. 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 Women's Soccer Championship is broadcast FREE on Urban Edge Network and the newly redesigned NAIA Network for all matches at the final site in Pensacola, Fla. 

Qualifier Highlights

• Mid-America Christian (Okla.) and Oakland City (Ind.) both earned a bid into the field for the first time in program history
• The Masters (Calif.) earned an at-large bid to make an appearance in the field for the first time since the 2019 season
• Seven teams have 17 or more wins on the season, including Cumberlands (Ky.), College of Idaho, Campbellsville (Ky.), Columbia (Mo.), Science and Arts (Okla.), Tennessee Southern, and William Carey (Miss.)
• The Firehawks of Tennessee Southern lead the field with 20 tournament appearances, Keiser (Fla.) has the second most tournament appearances in the field with 18
• Spring Arbor (Mich.) boasts the most championship wins of the 2024 field with 37, followed closely by the Firehawks with 35
• The field combines for an impressive record of 552-117-72 for a 79.4 winning percentage out of a total of 741 matches
• 26 of the 40 teams have an animal as a mascot.
• The Crossroads, Great Southwest, Mid-South, Sooner, and Southern Stats all have three teams in the tournament field; while the Heart of America leads all conferences with four teams making the field
• For a full look at all of the First & Second Round tournaments and matchups, click HERE