HBCUAC Champion Men's Soccer heads to Tennessee for NAIA First and Second Round

After capturing the 2025 Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) Soccer Championship, the Wiley University men's soccer team was selected to the Lebanon Bracket where it will face Carroll College in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Men's Soccer National Championship First and Second Rounds presented by Select Sport America on Thursday and Saturday at Cumberland University's Lindsey Donnell Stadium at Kirk Field in Lebanon, Tennessee.

The Wildcats (9-3-2) make their second NAIA National Championship appearance, with their first coming in 2015 when it won the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament. They were the only men's team that went through HBCUAC play unbeaten. It outscored its opponents 10-2. The 2025 HBCUAC Soccer Championship proved more of a challenge. Wiley trailed most of its semifinal match until it scored twice in the final 20 minutes to get a 2-1 victory over Paul Quinn College. It was tied at one entering the second half of the championship against Huston-Tillotson. The Wildcats took control with three goals.

Wiley is looking to make history with its first NAIA postseason victory. It enters Thursday's match on an eight-match unbeaten streak (7-0-1). Two of the teams it lost two qualified for the NAIA National Championship (William Carey University and Louisiana State University 

Carroll (13-3-3) earned an at-large bid out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference. It finished second in the regular season and reached the championship match. It received 20 points in the final Men's Soccer Top 25 poll. Thursday's match is set for a noon kickoff. The winner will face the host No. 8 Cumberland on Saturday. The match time is to be announced. Saturday's winner will advance to the Round of 16 at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Alabama.