The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has officially announced the teams and Opening Round pairings for the 2016 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship and the NU Eagles are heading to California. The 31-team event will get underway with 15 National Championship Opening Round matches at campus locations on Saturday, Nov. 19.

It will be the Eagles vs. the Eagles as the NU Eagles will travel to La Mirada, Calif., to take on the Biola University Eagles who were selected as an at-large No. 1 by the NAIA and finished the year with a 15-1-2 record. Biola comes out of the Gold State Athletic Conference. The Eagles come into the tournament as the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament runner-up with a 12-6-2 record. Game time is 3:30 p.m. This is NU’s first appearance in the NAIA tournament and Biola’s third.

The 2016 Opening Round winners and national championship final site host Mobile (Ala.) advance to the final site in Orange Beach, Ala. Action at the Orange Beach Sportsplex runs Nov. 28 – Dec. 3.

This year’s opening round field includes 23 automatic qualifiers, seven at-large selections and one host berth. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship or finished runner-up at the conference tournament. The at-large bids were determined by the final Modified Ratings Percentage Index (MRPI) and are expected to be announced today.