Women’s soccer selected to host Opening Round game

The John Brown University women’s soccer team has been invited to make its sixth-ever NAIA National Championships appearance, as the Golden Eagles were extended an at-large berth and the opportunity to host an Opening Round bracket that features visitors from Eastern Oregon and Bethel (Tenn.), the NAIA national office announced on Monday morning.

For the second straight year, the Golden Eagles (123-3) were selected to host an Opening Round and will await the winner of Eastern Oregon and Bethel (Tenn.) on Saturday night (Nov. 23) at 6 p.m. The Mountaineers (15-2-2) and Wildcats (12-5-1) will battle it out in the bracket semifinals on Friday night, also kicking off at 6 p.m.

Head coach Kathleen Paulsen has now guided JBU to its fourth championships appearance in seven seasons as the Golden Eagles were selected as the overall No. 13 seed in the 2019 edition of the tournament. John Brown is 1-5-0 all-time in the NAIA National Championships in five prior appearances (2005-10-13-16-18), but made history last season when it ousted Kansas Wesleyan by a 1-0 final in the Opening Round at Alumni Field, the program’s first victory on the national stage. The Blue and Gold advanced to Orange Beach only to run into red-hot Southeastern (Fla.), which ended JBU’s season with a 3-0 score as the Fire eventually made its way to the national semifinals.

While the Golden Eagles failed to make the Sooner Athletic tournament finals for the first time in seven seasons, John Brown pieced together a strong resume that included wins over other NAIA National Championships qualifiers in Science & Arts, Georgia Gwinnett and Columbia (Mo.). The Golden Eagles also drew with Martin Methodist (Tenn.) and took Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) to extra time, the field’s overall No. 5 and No. 8 seeds, respectively. JBU fell in extra time to Oklahoma Wesleyan back in August. The Blue and Gold finished No. 10 in the final MRPI, which weighed heavily when the selection committee chose its 15 Opening Round hosts.

The winner of the Siloam Springs bracket will advance to Orange Beach and take on the winner of the Fayette bracket, hosted by national No. 4 seed Central Methodist (Mo.). Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) and Aquinas (Mich.) are the second and third seeds in the Fayette bracket, respectively. The Round of 16 matchup is scheduled for Monday night (Dec. 2) at 6:30 p.m.