Miners earn first berth to NCAA-II Soccer Tournament; face Ashland in opener Friday

ROLLA ,Mo. – Missouri S&T’s men’s soccer team has qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in school history, as the Miners were selected to the field that was announced Monday evening.

The Miners, 10-5-3 on the season and ranked 16th in NCAA Division II, have earned a spot in the Midwest Regional that will take place at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Ky., this weekend. S&T will open play on Friday at 3 p.m. (Central time) when it takes on Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Ashland University.

The 21st-ranked Eagles, who won the GLIAC regular season and tournament titles, will come into Friday’s game at 13-4-3 after winning that conference’s tournament in a penalty kick shootout Saturday over Ohio Dominican. The Miners, meanwhile, won a share of the regular season title in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament, where they were eliminated in overtime by host NKU.

Friday’s game will mark the sixth meeting between the schools and the Miners have won four of the previous five. However, the Eagles won the most recent contest in the 2008 season opener by the score of 4-3. S&T topped Ashland 2-0 a year earlier when current Miner seniors Sam Shaffer, Kenny Gravlin and Mario Calderon were freshmen.

Host Northern Kentucky, ranked fifth in NCAA Division II, will take on the third team from the GLVC in the field, Quincy University. The Hawks and Norse will play the second game of Friday’s doubleheader at 6 p.m. (Central time), with the winners of the two semifinals game slated to play Sunday at noon Central.