KWU Women’s Soccer will face Columbia in NAIA Opening Round match

The NAIA has released the Women’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round site assignments and first round pairings and the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes are headed to Columbia, Mo., as the No. 3 seed in the Concordia Bracket and will face second-seeded and host Columba on Thursday at 2 p.m.

KWU received the Opening Round berth by being the highest remaining seed in the KCAC Tournament, regardless of finish since Oklahoma Wesleyan won both the regular season and tournament titles. KWU was the No. 2 seed in the KCAC tournament.

KWU is 14-5 on the season and received votes in the NAIA Top 25 final poll released on Monday.

The Columbia Bracket top seed is No. 3 ranked and defending National Champion Keiser (Fla.) who received an at-large bid into the tournament field. The Seahawks were runners-up in The Sun Conference tournament held in November. They tied Southeastern (Fla.) 2-2, but lost 4-2 in a penalty kick shootout to decide the tournament champion. Keiser is 5-1 in the spring season, the only loss to No. 1 ranked William Carey.

Columbia is the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Cougars are 15-2 overall and earned a berth to the Opening Round by winning the American Midwest Tournament for the sixth consecutive year. Columbia beat Missouri Baptist 1-0 in the AMC tournament final.

Concordia (Neb.) won the Great Plains Conference tournament championship and is 11-6-2 overall. The Bulldogs beat Jamestown 2-1 in the GPAC final.

Live video will be available through the Columbia Stretch Live portal at portal.stretchinternet.com/columbia. Live stats will be available on DakStats. As more information is made available regarding the tournament it will be released.