Women’s Soccer to travel to Columbia, Mo. for Opening Round

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- On Monday the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced the 40-team Women's Soccer National Tournament Field.

Bellevue (8-10-0) is making its sixth appearance in the NAIA National Tournament, their first since 2014, and the first under current head coach Tom White. The Bruins qualified by reaching the final of the Continental Athletic Conference Tournament, earning one of the two bids allotted to the CAC.

The Bruins will be the No. 4 seed and travel to Columbia, Mo. for their Opening Round Bracket where they will face top-seeded host, and No. 5-ranked, Central Methodist University (19-1-0). Joining BU and the Eagles in the Opening Round are No. 2 seed Columbia College (17-3-0) and No. 3 seed University of Jamestown (18-1-1).

Despite being the No. 4 seed, BU is battle-tested having played a daunting schedule that included games against four 2021 National Tournament qualifiers.

The 40-team NAIA Opening Round event at 10 campus locations will occur from November 18-20.

The 2021 NAIA Opening Round winners will meet up in Orange Beach, Ala., at the NAIA National Championship final site event. The 38th annual championship takes place at the Orange Beach Sportsplex November 30 – December 6, 2021.

This year's opening round field includes 28 automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship, or finished runner-up at the conference tournament or regular season 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 president of the NAIA-Women's Soccer Coaches Association, and three at-large members. 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 Women's Soccer National Championship final site in Orange Beach, Ala. 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 $34.95. For more information and to pre-register, click HERE.

NAIA Opening Round – Columbia Bracket