Story by Chad Waller, Director of Athletics Communications and Media

KANSAS CITY, Mo. –  After 15 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round events were completed today, the final site bracket is set. The 15 Opening Round champions join final site host institution Mobile (Ala.) Nov. 27 – Dec. 2 in Orange Beach, Ala.

2017 Opening Round Notes

• This is the 10th year the NAIA has conducted the Opening Round format.
• Fifteen of the top 16 seeds punched their ticket to Orange Beach with Opening Round victories today. The only upset came via No. 6 Keiser (Fla.) going down at the hands of Tennessee Wesleyan by a 2-1 score. Tennessee Wesleyan notches its first-ever championship win in its third trip.
• Defending national champion University of Northwestern Ohio handled William Woods (Mo.) by a 5-0 score today. Led by a pair of goals by Camilla Andersen, the Racers poured in four second-half goals in the victory.
• Unseeded Tennessee Wesleyan was the lone visiting team to win today. The Lady Bulldogs knocked off host No. 6 Keiser. Coming into today’s match, Keiser had won seven of their previous eight Opening Round home contests.
• After Vanguard (Calif.) recorded a 4-0 shutout of Northwest (Wash.), the Lions moved their Opening Round record to 5-0-2 all-time. The Lions boast the longest active Opening Round unbeaten streak at seven.
• With three champions today, the Golden State Athletic Conference and Southern States Athletic Conference send the most representatives to the final site 16-team championship field
• Overall No. 1 seed Martin Methodist (Tenn.), who boasts the top seed for the first time since 2005 when it was the national champion, survived a 1-0 overtime victory against Bryan (Tenn.). The RedHawks improve to 9-1 in the Opening Round, with all of the matches coming at home.
• Today, the hosts went 14-1-0 overall. In those 14 wins, the hosts out-scored the visiting club by a 38-2 margin.
• Since the Opening Round format began in 2008, the hosts improve to 122-19-11 all-time. Last year, the hosts went 13-2-0.
• Martin Methodist is the only program in Opening Round history to host each previous year – 2017 marks the 10th-consecutive home match for the RedHawks.
• The 3-0 Oklahoma Wesleyan victory over Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) today snapped the Blue Raiders nine-straight Opening Round win streak.