NAIA story on announcement of 2024 women's soccer qualifiers, bracket
2024 NAIA women's soccer nationals bracket

        NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana women's soccer will play Mid-America Christian at 5 p.m. CST Thursday in Hattiesburg, Miss., in the opening round of NAIA nationals.
        The NAIA announced Saturday the 40-team field and pairings.
        The Gold Nuggets (13-5-2) are 2-for-2 in their brief history in qualifying for nationals with an automatic bid. They did it again Thursday by winning a 2-1 penalty-kick shootout with LSU-Alexandria in the championship game of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament at Texarkana, Texas. XULA and the Generals tied at 2 through the end of overtime.
        Mid-America Christian (14-3-2) earned an at-large bid and will play at nationals for the first time. The Evangels grabbed a share of the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
        Third-ranked William Carey (18-1-1) will play host to the XULA-MACU winner at 1 p.m. Saturday in the second round. The Saturday winner will advance to the NAIA's final site Dec. 2-9 at Pensacola, Fla.
        The NAIA seeded 16 teams. William Carey is seeded second.
        Tickets for the Hattiesburg games are $10 per day and can be purchased on game day at the venue entrance.