COMING UP:  NAIA National Championships (West Palm Beach, Fla.) – first-round vs. Tennessee Wesleyan, Thursday, 10 a.m.; second-round (with win) vs. No. 2 Keiser, Saturday, 10 a.m.
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION:  All games from West Palm Beach will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network (PPV - $10.00), with Live Stats available through the NAIA's Stat Broadcast Platform.
 
MULTIMEDIA: All photos from the 2024 season, are posted online via the OIT Women's Soccer Flickr Page, while highlight clips available online via the OIT Women's Soccer YouTube Channel.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – TENNESSEE WESLEYAN: Tournament play opens Thursday against Tennessee Wesleyan, the regular-season co-champions of the Appalachian Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs (14-1-3) played Truett-McConnell to a draw in the AAC Tournament final, with TMU winning the crown on penalties. TWU has scored 68 goals on the year, while allowing just 10 – paced by AAC Golden Boot Award winner Krista Eik Hardardottir (27 goals, 10 assists) – who is No. 5 in the NAIA in scoring. Both Valerie Koopman (4 goals, 8 assists) and Marte Stokseth (8 goals, 4 assists) are key offensively, with AAC Defensive Player of the Year Natascha Frei (6 goals, 3 assists) and keeper Laia Koch Font (0.67 GAA) the top defensive players. The Bulldogs are making their seventh tournament appearance – losing in the first-round last season to Xavier.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – KEISER: If the Lady Owls win, they will meet tournament No. 2-seed Keiser, as the Seahawks (14-1-1) are making their 14th-straight tournament appearance, having won the 2019 and 2020 NAIA titles. KU has outscored opponents 59-16, taking nearly 24 shots a game – led by All-Sun Conference performers Lauren Riley (14 goals, 7 assists), Alicia Rey (9 goals, 7 assists) and Maria Villena (9 goals, 5 assists). Keeper Maude Rouanet (1.02 GAA, .686 save pct) is joined by standout defenders Julia Forslund (3 goals, 5 assists) and Georgia Little (6 assists). It is the first meeting between the teams and the first between OIT and a Florida squad.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Tech advances to the NAIA Championships for the fourth time in the last six years – looking to improve on a 4-2-2 all-time mark in the event. In 2019, the Owls dropped a first-round match-up in Santa Barbara, Calif., to Marymount California, while a year later, OIT returned to Santa Barbara – defeating host Westmont, 2-0, before playing Eastern Oregon to a 0-0 draw, with EOU advancing on penalties. In 2021, the Owls won the first/second round bracket in Bartlesville, Okla., beating Science & Arts, 4-1 and advancing on penalties against Oklahoma Wesleyan. At the final site – Tech upset two Top-5 teams (Spring Arbor and Aquinas) by 1-0 scores, before losing to eventual national champ, Tennessee Southern.
 
ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT: The NAIA Championships features 40 teams, split among 16 campus sites – eight 2-team sites and eight 3-team sites. The 16 winners will advance to the tournament final site in Pensacola, Fla., Dec. 2-9, to determine the national champion.
 
CONFERENCE TOURNEY RECAP: The Lady Owls earned a spot in the NAIA Championships as the Cascade Conference Tournament runner-up – falling to College of Idaho in the title game, 1-0. OIT rallied in the quarterfinals, getting second half goals from Shalynai Naputi and Kiana Jacobson to erase a Northwest University lead, claiming a 2-1 win. In the semifinals, Tech and Eastern Oregon went to extra time, with Brianna Lewis knocking home the game-winner in the seventh minute of the first overtime period, giving the Owls a 1-0 win.
 
DUO HONORED BY CCC: OIT's two top defensive players earned the CCC's two-top defensive awards – as senior Carly Moss was named CCC Defensive Player of the Year, with fifth-year senior Sydni Nakamura earning CCC Keeper of the Year. Moss was the defensive stopper from her centerback position – stopping every opponents' top scorer – while playing every minute of every match. Nakamura led the league with 10 shutouts and has a 0.82 goals against average – having tied OIT's mark for career shutouts and is one win away from the career victories mark.
 
OTHER ALL-LEAGUE HONORS: Three other OIT players were named to the All-CCC team – including two players earning honors for the second-straight year. Kiana Jacobson was Tech's third pick on the first-team, a year after earning second-team honors. Jacobson leads the Lady Owls with 10 goals – including a school-record string of 6-straight games with a goal. Brianna Lewis earns second-team honors for a second-straight year – heading into the NAIA Tournament with a league-leading nine assists. Senior Kayla Ness was selected to the second-team after ranking second on the club with six goals scored.
 
WINNING RECORD: The Lady Owls enter NAIA Tournament play with a 15-5-1 overall record, clinching a .500 or better record for the 15th time in 25 years. The win over Carroll on Oct. 19 secured Tech their 12th season with double-digit wins and the first since the 2021 season. The 15 wins this season is the second-highest win total in program history, as the team is chasing the 2021 squad that set a school record with 20 victories, en route to the NAIA national semifinals.
 
HOME SUCCESS: During the 25 seasons of women's soccer at OIT, the Lady Owls are 113-60-18 in matches played in Klamath Falls. Since the school installed turf at the on-campus venue in 2017, Tech has been nearly unbeatable, recording a 44-6-7 mark (.833 win percentage) – including a 6-2 mark in 2024.
 
THREE GOALS EQUAL A WIN: The Nov. 2 win over Northwest was the seventh time in 2024 that the Owls have scored 3-or-more goals in a match – extending a streak of wins when tallying a hat trick to 60-in-a-row – dating back to a 7-4 loss to Linfield on Sept. 3, 2011. OIT has scored 3-plus goals 117 times in program history, posting a stellar 115-4 all-time record in such games.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS: As a team, the Lady Owls rank No. 2 in the CCC in shutouts (11) and in assists per game (1.57), No. 3 in goals per game (2.00), shots per game (15.24) and goals against average (0.81), No. 5 in corner kicks per game (4.10), No. 8 in fouls per game (7.52), while recording the fewest number of cautions in the league (5). Individually, Brianna Lewis leads the CCC in assists (9) and is No. 4 in shot attempts (54); Sydni Nakamura leads the CCC in shutouts (10) and is No. 3 in goals against average (0.82), while Kiana Jacobson is No. 2 in game-winning goals (5) and No. 5 in points (24) and in goals scored (10).
 
SEASON MARKS CLIMBING: Kiana Jacobson has set a new single-season school record for game-winning goals (5) and penalty kick conversions (4), while ranking No. 13 in goals (10) and points (24). Sydni Nakamura ranks No. 2 in single-season wins (15) and No. 3 in shutouts (10), with Brianna Lewis No. 4 in assists (9).
 
RECORD BOOK: Four players rank within the Top-20 of the OIT career record book. Keeper Sydni Nakamura is tied for the all-time in shutouts (21) record, ranking No. 2 in goalie wins (28) and No. 6 saves (162), midfielder Brianna Lewis is No. 7 in assists (13), midfielder Kiana Jacobson ranks No. 14 in goals scored (15) and No. 16 in total points (34), while forward Kiah Wetzell sits at No. 16 in goals scored (14) and in total points (34).