ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The No. 21-ranked Northwestern College men's soccer team (16-3-1, 10-1 GPAC) is set to play their Opening Round match of the 2021 Men's Soccer Championship against the Rio Grande (Ohio) Red Storm (16-2-1, 9-0 RSC) at the Columbia-CMU Regional in Columbia, Mo. at Battle High School.
 
Northwestern will travel to Columbia, Mo., hosted by Central Methodist University, in their first national tournament appearance since 2007. This year marks the first trip under head coach Dan Swier. Swier noted, "This means a lot to all the men who have played here over the past 15 years. We have had a lot of players come through this program to help get us to this point. This success will undoubtedly help us as we look to make this a regular occurrence." The Raiders were seeded at No. 3 in this year's Columbia-CMU Regional.
 
A win over the Red Storm would break the program's single-season records for amount of wins in a season, as the Raiders are currently tied with the 2004 squad that also won 16 matches, back when Coach Swier was donning a Northwestern uniform.
 
The winner of the match will face the winner of host and No. 1-seed Central Methodist (Mo.) and No. 4-seed Tabor (Kan.) on Saturday.
 
Northwestern College
Despite dropping the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament final, the Raiders still earned an automatic bid to the national tournament thanks to a stellar 10-1 regular season in the GPAC to clinch a share of the regular season title with Briar Cliff, and owning the head-to-head to earn the AQ berth.
 
"Our goal all season was to earn a berth at the national tournament. This group believed in themselves from the start," said Swier. "It feels really good to reach this milestone, but now that we are here, I realize that the journey to get here was the part that has made this season special."
 
Juan Mackrey (Sr., Balcare, Argentina/Georgia Military College) has led the Raider attack all season long with 11 goals and two assists, earning him First Team All-GPAC honors. James Bolger (Jr., Boyle, Republic of Ireland/Abbey Community College) joins Macrey as a First Team All-GPAC performer with five goals on the season. Niklas Fitter (Fr., Sankt Augustin, Germany/Rhein Sieg Gymnasium) has tallied seven goals on the year. Freshman Stan van den Beld (Voorhout, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Sassenheim) – a Second Team All-Conference performer – leads the squad with seven assists.
 
Defensively, the Raiders are led by GPAC Defensive Player of the Year Marcel Lengert (So., Siegen, Germany/Prince Johann Moritz Gymnasium) and First Team All-GPAC Goalkeeper and one-time NAIA Defensive Player of the Week Ezekiel Foltz (Jr., Sioux Center, Iowa/Sioux Center). Foltz has been phenomenal in goal all season for Northwestern, only surrendering 12 goals with a save percentage of .862 on the year. He has tallied 75 saves to help the Raiders secure their first trip to the national tournament since 2007.
 
University of Rio Grande (Ohio)
Northwestern will battle the No. 2-seed Red Storm of the University of Rio Grande (Ohio) out of the River States Conference (RSC). The No. 13-ranked Red Storm earned an automatic bid to this year's tournament, winning back-to-back conference titles. They have now won six of the last eight RSC men's soccer tournament titles. Rio Grande ran the table in league play, going 9-0. Their only losses of the season came back in early September to then No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan and Baker (Kan.).
 
Rio Grande is led by 33^rd year head coach Scott Morrissey, amassing 460+ wins in his time at Rio Grande. He has led the Red Storm to their 18^th consecutive NAIA Championship appearance, while winning 16 River States Conference titles.
 
The Red Storm are led by freshman Gabriel Silva who has netted 16 goals on the season, and has assisted on four other goals. He also leads the team with four game-winners entering the national tournament. Nicholas Cam Orellana has nine goals on the season. Benjamin Cam Orellana leads the Red Storm with 10 assists on the season.
 
In goal, freshman Daniel Merino has played in 18 of the team's 19 games, boasting 12 shutouts to his name. He has a save percentage of .818, only allowing 10 goals to opponents. He has collected 45 saves to pace the Rio Grande defense.
 
"Rio Grande is a storied program with a lot of national tournament experience. They are stout defensively, but have not beaten any currently ranked teams yet this season," notes Swier. "It is a tough match-up, but that is to be expected at this point in season."
 
Ticket Information
As with the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament, all NAIA championship events will be charged. Down in Columbia, Mo., the adult ticket price is set at $8 and student (K-12 and college) will be $5. College students will be required to show their institutional ID for proof of being a student. The ticket link can be found above and on the men's soccer schedule.
 
Columbia-CMU (Mo.) Regional
No. 1-seed Central Methodist Eagles (Mo.) (19-0-0)
No. 2-seed Rio Grande Red Storm (Ohio) (16-2-1)
No. 3-seed Northwestern Red Raiders (16-3-1)
No. 4-seed Tabor Bluejays (Kan.) (12-7-1)
 
Thursday, November 18
Game 1 – (1) Central Methodist (Mo.) vs. (4) Tabor (Kan.) [12:30 PM]
Game 2 – (2) Rio Grande (Ohio) vs. (3) Northwestern [5:30 PM]
 
Saturday, November 20
Game 3 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 [1:00 PM]
Winner advances to final site