LIVONIA, Mich.  -  Madonna University Men's Soccer team is set to travel to Beckley, WV for the Opening Round of the NAIA National Tournament. In the first match, they will face off against the Patriots from the University of the Cumberlands on Friday, November 22 with a 3 PM kickoff.
The winner of the match will then go on to face the Opening Round host in West Virginia Technological University on Saturday, November 23 for the chance to travel to the final site.

HOW TO FOLLOW

• Live video can be seen at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wvutech/portal.htm?eventId=569699&streamType=video 
• Live stats will be available at http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10&StartGameDay=11/19/2019&EndGameDay=11/19/2019&tab=1

SERIES HISTORY

• There has only been one game between the Crusaders and the Patriots
• The Blue and Gold lost the 2004 game by a score of 2-0
• The Crusaders have never faced the Golden Bears in school history

HOW THEY GOT HERE

MADONNA
Madonna was able to earn an automatic bid into the Opening Round by making it to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championship game but eventually losing to regular-season champion Indiana Tech. The Crusaders record currently sits at 13-4-3. 

The Blue and Gold are led in scoring by Bruno Piva de Castro who has put together a solid freshman season as he has tallied three goals and seven assists to go along with being put on the WHAC All-Newcomer team. Yuri Farkas Guglielmi has yet again put together a solid season as he has put up five goals and one assist on the season while being added to the WHAC second team. The WHAC defensive player of the year has put up good numbers on the defense as Breno Stapcinskas has scored five goals on the season while also helping the Crusader defense in only allowing 0.48 goals-per game. Joe Smith has had a historic season as goalie for the Crusaders as he has only allowed 10 goals on the season on his way to 10.5 shutouts on the season, which puts him tied for second for shutouts in a season.

The Crusaders will look to advance past the Opening Round for the second straight year as last year they were able to make it all the way to the NAIA Semifinal game before losing against the eventual National Champion. This is the sixth time the Crusaders will be in the annual tournament and are holding onto a 5-5 record.

CUMBERLANDS
The Patriots earned their first at-large bid into the tournament after a 10-6-2 season which saw them make it to the semifinal and lose in penalty kicks to the eventual Mid-South Tournament Champion Lindsey Wilson

The Patriots are led by senior Marvin van der Made as he has followed up a season in which he was named to the NAIA Honorable-Mention list with a season that has seen him tally 15 goals and eight assists. Another solid player for Cumberlands is freshman Luis Jara Encina as he tallied seven goals and one assists on the season. Leading the Patriots in goal was freshman Akililu Zambataro as he allowed 14 goals, had a 0.9 goals against and recorded eight shutouts on the season.

Cumberlands will look to win their first NAIA tournament game in school history. 

WEST VIRGINIA TECH
The Golden Bears were able to claim an automatic bid after a 17-0-2 and claimed the River States Conference Championship after besting the University of Rio Grande in penalty kicks. 

West Virginia Tech was led on the offensive side of the ball by senior Jesus Naves as he scored 11 goals and had four assists. Another offensive weapon was senior Sergio Sanchez as he assists on 10 goals throughout the year and scored nine himself. Between the posts was senior Jorge Martinez as he put up eight shutouts to go along with 0.848 goals-against average.

West Virginia Tech will be looking to advance as they are making their first appearance in the tournament since 2016 when they made it to the quarterfinal round of the tournament, but losing to the top overall seed in Hastings College. This is the fourth time in school history that the Golden Bears will be in the tournament and they have a 2-3 record all-time.

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