McKENDREE WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM TO HOST KANSAS WESLEYAN IN NAIA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT OPENING ROUND
(Lebanon, Ill., Nov. 16) – The McKendree women’s soccer team will start their run at the NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship on campus Saturday, November 22nd as they host Kansas Wesleyan University. The game time has not yet been determined.
“We’re excited to play another game at Leemon Field,” said head coach Tim Strange. “We’ve played really well at home this season and the team is very excited to play a game of this magnitude on campus.”
No. 17 Bearcats are 18-1-1 on the season and qualified by winning the American Midwest Conference tournament. The No. 24 Coyotes are 14-5-1 and qualified after winning the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament. McKendree and Kansas Wesleyan have one common opponent this season in Missouri Baptist University. The Bearcats defeated the Spartans twice, 6-1 and 4-2, and the Coyotes played them to a 0-0 draw.
McKendree has qualified for the NAIA National Championship four consecutive seasons and have a record of 3-4-1 in the tournament. Kansas Wesleyan is making its second-straight trip and has a record of 1-1.
The game will give Bearcat fans the rare opportunity to watch their favorite team compete in a national tournament game on their home field. “It will give us an advantage to play in front of a home crowd,” said junior defender and captain Kelsey Johnson. “Our fans have really been behind us this season and we’re excited for the opportunity to play one more game in front of them at home.”
The winner of the McKendree-Kansas Wesleyan game will travel to the championship site at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., to face off with the winner of No. 1 Lindsey Wilson and Siena Heights University.
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