Ohio Wesleyan Men’s Soccer Team Battles For Third National Championship
The Ohio Wesleyan men’s soccer team will leave Tuesday, Dec. 2, for the national NCAA Division III championship tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. The community is invited to come wish the players well at a pep rally. The community is invited to return to campus Friday, Dec. 5, to watch the Bishops in action during a free, live viewing party. (Photo courtesy of OWU’s Office of University Communications)
DELAWARE, Ohio – Fans of the Ohio Wesleyan University men’s soccer team are invited to campus Tuesday, Dec. 2, to help send off the players in style as they depart for Kansas City, Missouri, where they will seek their third NCAA Division III national championship.
Tuesday’s pep rally will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Jay Martin Soccer Complex, 249 Park Ave., Delaware. Then, everyone is invited back to campus at 2:30 p.m. Friday to watch the Bishops battle the Tufts University Jumbos of Medford, Massachusetts, in a national semifinal matchup. Friday’s live viewing party will be held in OWU’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Admission is free.
Also competing in Friday’s semifinals are the State University of New York-Oneonta Red Dragons and the Wheaton College Thunder of Wheaton, Illinois, who will compete at noon. All championship games will be played at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City and all will be streamed live online at www.ncaa.com.
The winners of the semifinal games will compete for the national Division III men’s soccer championship at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. If the Bishops make the finals, Ohio Wesleyan will screen the game in Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. Admission will be free.
The Battling Bishops (17-4-4) are making their NCAA-record 37th Division III playoff appearance and their 10th appearance in the national semifinals. The team previously earned national championship titles in 1998 and 2011.
The team is coached by Jay Martin, the winningest men’s collegiate soccer coach in all divisions. Martin earned the distinction during the 2011 championship game, when the Bishops claimed the national title with a 2-1 win over the Calvin College Knights of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Learn more about the men’s soccer team and OWU Battling Bishop athletics at www.battlingbishops.com.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.