The Kenyon Lords have earned their fifth-straight spot in the 2017 NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship, facing the Transylvania University Pioneers in a first-round game this Saturday. Kenyon (15-2-3) was one of 20 at-large teams that earned a berth into the tournament. Transylvania (17-1-0), which won the Heartland Conference Athletic Conference (HCAC) tournament, was one of 42 teams to collect an automatic bid.
The game will take place at Otterbein University’s Memorial Stadium in Westerville, Ohio, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the game will advance to Sunday’s second round to face the winner of the game between host Otterbein and Medaille College.
The NCAA tournament appearance will be the Lords’ 14th overall. They won the 2017 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular-season title with a perfect 9-0-0 record, but missed out on capturing a fourth-straight conference tournament title with a 3-2 penalty-kick shootout loss to Ohio Wesleyan University. Prior to that result, the Kenyon men were ranked No. 9 in the latest United Soccer Coaches national poll and ranked No. 3 in the NCAA’s Great Lakes regional poll.
The Pioneers, currently unranked, are making their eighth NCAA tournament appearance, but first since 2012. Kenyon and Transylvania did not face each other this season, but they did share common opponents in Centre and Thomas More colleges. The Pioneers defeated both those teams, while the Lords defeated Centre and tied Thomas More.
Kenyon and Transylvania have met just twice on the soccer pitch. In 2002, the Pioneers posted a 1-0 win in the season opener and then, in 2009, the Lords evened the score with a 1-0 overtime win.
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