Men's college soccer: Golden Bears set to face Indiana Tech in NAIA quarterfinals

The mighty have fallen in rapid succession in the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championships. Of the 16 seeds in the original 40-team field, only four remain for Thursday’s quarterfinals.

One of the four still standing is No. 11 WVU Tech, which moved on with Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Ottawa (Kan.) in the Round of 16. In so doing, they extended the nation’s longest win streak to 16 games.

Up next for the Golden Bears is a meeting with a team that is responsible for dismissing two of the top 16.

Unseeded Indiana Tech (18-4-1), ranked No. 17 in the country, defeated No. 14 Baker (Kan.) in the second round and No. 3 Bethel (Ind.) in the Round of 16. The score to both games was 1-0.

The Golden Bears and the Warriors will meet Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern.

The Golden Bears (18-0-2) rode another strong defensive performance to the win over Ottawa. Keeper Luka Felix saved all five shots that came his way in the second half.

That opened the door for freshman Julen Recalde to score the go-ahead goal off an assist from Keishon Clarke in the 71st minute. Recalde — the River States Conference Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year — has 14 goals on the season.

Clarke put the Golden Bears ahead 1-0 in the first half off a corner kick from Hugo Roman. Clarke has six goals in the postseason and 11 on the year.

That the Warriors are successful is nothing new. They qualified for the tournament by winning their seventh straight Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament championship on Nov. 12.

They did so by beating the only common opponent between them and the Golden Bears — Madonna University, 2-0. The Golden Bears later defeated Madonna 4-3 in overtime in the second round.

The Warriors had four all-conference first-team and five second-team selections. Leading the way is senior forward Mark McDaid, who ironically transferred from Bethel in 2024. He is third in the WHAC with 10 goals and 24 points and fourth in shots with 48. Liam Arthur has nine goals, Gui Moreira seven goals and five assists and Fabian Hauer four goals and seven assists.

First-team keeper Cuba Grant has 67 saves and a .788 save percentage.

Defensively, the Warriors lead the conference in goals allowed (19) and goals against average (0.83). They have 11 clean sheets and have not allowed a goal in four straight games.

The winner of Thursday’s game will play the winner of No. 7 MidAmerica Nazarene and William Penn in the semifinals Saturday at 5 p.m.

Students are invited to a campus watch party with free food and drinks in Room 208 of the Life Sciences Building.