– UJ Women’s Soccer draws No. 3 Seed, NAIA Tourney

(UJ) The 23rd ranked University of Jamestown women’s soccer team returns to the NAIA National Championship for the first time since 2005, drawing the #3 seed in the Columbia (Mo.) bracket of the 2021 NAIA national tournament.

Jamestown, 18-1-1 and regular-season GPAC conference champions, will face #2 seed and 13th-ranked Columbia College (17-3) on Thursday in one of two bracket matches. Thursday’s other game has #1 seed Central Methodist (Mo.) (19-1) against #4 seed Bellevue (Neb.) (8-10).

The two winners will meet on Saturday with the bracket champion moving on to 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.