Bruins headed to Olathe for NAIA Opening Round

Opening Round Qualifiers Release
Opening Round Schedule & Results

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Monday the qualifiers and Opening Round brackets for the 2020-21 NAIA Men's Soccer National Tournament.

The Bruins return to the National Tournament for the second time in three seasons. BU (14-4-2), ranked No. 9 in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll, secured an automatic bid by winning the A.I.I. Tournament last weekend.

Bellevue, seeded 10^th nationally, is the top seed in the Opening Round - Olathe Bracket. The Olathe Bracket is hosted by MidAmerica Nazarene University with games to be played at MNU's Pioneer Field. First round games will take place on Thursday, Apr. 22 with the winners facing off on Saturday, Apr. 24 for the right to advance to the final site in Evans, Ga.

Joining Bellevue in the Olathe Bracket are host MidAmerica Nazarene (10-6-2), Rocky Mountain College (8-0-0), and McPherson College (12-4-4). MNU and McPherson each earned at-large berths while Rocky Mountain qualified as the East Division Champion out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

The Bruins first round opponent, McPherson College, will be familiar as the two sides played to a 1-1 draw back on Mar. 20. That game will kick-off at 1 p.m. with the MNU-Rocky Mountain match to follow at 4 p.m. Saturday's kick-off time, featuring the two winners, has yet to be announced.

The 2020-21 NAIA Opening Round winners will meet up in Columbia County, Ga. at the NAIA National Championship final site event. The 62^nd annual championship takes place at the Blanchard Woods Park May 4-10, 2021.

This year's opening round field includes 27 automatic qualifiers and 13 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, or was selected by their conference in absence of a conference tournament. The at-large bids were determined by the NAIA Men's Soccer National Selection Committee. This committee consists of one representative from each geographical area, a representative from the National Administrative Council, the president of the NAIA-Men's Soccer Coaches Association, and four at-large representatives. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria.

The NAIA Network – the association's official video streaming home – will broadcast all 10 matches live at the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship final site in Columbia County, Ga. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-championship tournament package is available at $29.95. For more information and to pre-register, click HERE.

Notes:

• Bellevue is 4-2-0 all-time in Opening Round matches, having won each of their last three (2014, 2015, 2018).
• The Bruins are 4-6-0 all-time in the National Tournament.
• BU has four times advance to the NAIA Final Site (2009, 2014, 2015, 2018).
• This is Bellevue's seventh appearance all-time in the NAIA National Tournament (2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020-21).
• The Bruins were also the #10 overall seed in the 2018 Tournament, defeating Marymount 3-0 in the Opening Round.
• Bellevue has played eight games against National Tournament Qualifiers, posting a record of 4-3-1 in those games.