Golden Eagles in NAIA Tournament
■ The JBU women’s soccer team will host Kansas Wesleyan at 2 p.m. Saturday.
For the third time in six years, the John Brown University women’s soccer team is among the 31 teams that were selected Monday morning to compete in the 2018 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championships, the NAIA national office announced.
John Brown also learned that it was awarded one of 15 Opening Round host bids and will welcome Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference champion Kansas Wesleyan to Alumni Field. Game time is slated for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, and will be streamed on JBUathletics. com and the NAIA Network app.
John Brown (15-4-1) is coming off its sixth-straight Sooner Athletic tournament final appearance as it padded its postseason resume with neutral site wins over No. 12 Mobile (Ala.) and No. 2 William Carey (Miss.) and added a road win over No. 10 Columbia (Mo.) and a home victory over No. 14 Oklahoma Wesleyan. The Golden Eagles are one of two Sooner Athletic teams that this year’s NAIA National Championships field, joining SAC tournament champion, Science and Arts (Okla.).
This will be the Golden Eagles’ fifth all-time appearance in the NAIA National Championships (2005, 2010, 2013, 2016), third under head coach Kathleen Paulsen. In its history, John Brown is 0-4-0 in tournament games, most recently dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker at Cumberland (Tenn.) in the 2016
Opening Round. Including SAC tournament games, JBU is 12-5-3 (.675) in postseason matches under Paulsen.
Kansas Wesleyan enters the NAIA National Championships at 17-2-2 on the year and won the KCAC tournament championship last week by defeating Oklahoma Wesleyan, 2-0. This will be the seventh appearance in program history for the Coyotes after claiming its first tournament title since 2014. It was the first time the program captured both the KCAC regular season and tournament titles in the same year since 2012.
The Coyotes are 2-6-2 alltime in its previous six trips (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016) to the big dance. In both draws, KWU advanced on penalty kicks.
Kat Benton mans the helm of Kansas Wesleyan and is currently in her second season. Last year, she coached the Coyotes to a 10-8-2 record and an appearance in the KCAC tournament title match, a 4-0 loss to Oklahoma Wesleyan.
Tickets will be available on site one hour prior to kick off. Tickets for everyone 10 and over are $5, while kids 9 and under are free with a paid adult. All John Brown University students, faculty and staff will be admitted free with the JBU ID, while family of faculty and staff will also be admitted free of cost. All patrons 10 and over in attendance must have a ticket.