INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The 2025 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament champions, Texas Lutheran University, will make its third appearance in the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Tournament as the Bulldogs take on Whitman in the opening round. NCAA Release | Tournament Bracket
Texas Lutheran (12-4-3) earned the SCAC automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs by virtue of winning its second league tournament title in program history with its 1-0 victory over Colorado College yesterday afternoon.
The Bulldogs will travel to San Antonio, Texas, for its opening round contest against Whitman College (14-0-6), the automatic qualifier out of the Northwest Conference on Saturday. The NCAA Tournament selection is the first in program history for the Blues. While this will be the first meeting between the two programs in the NCAA Tournament, the SCAC holds a 6-1-1record all-time against Northwest Conference foes.
On the other side of the bracket, Hardin-Simmons (6-8-3), the automatic qualifier out of the American Southwest Conference, takes on at-large selection and host of the weekend’s matches, Trinity University (15-1-1).
The winners of Saturday's matches play on Sunday with a trip to the sectionals on the line.
TLU got strong performances this season from first-year Jesus Carrillo and sophomore Evan Pacheco as the duo combined for 10 goals and dishes out nine assists for 29 total points. On the defensive side, SCAC Tournament MVPs senior Carlos Longoria and first-year Alex Hart, along with goalkeeper Ernesto Avila led a Bulldog defense that allowed just 12 goals on the year and posted a 0.63 goals against average. 20th-year head coach Eddie Salazar leads Texas Lutheran, which is making just its third national tournament appearance. Coach Salazar has been a part of all three appearances, first as a player in 2002 and the last two as the head coach in both 2019 and 2025.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the championship. The other 21 berths were reserved for an at-large berth, which includes institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that did not win their conference championship.
All tournament games leading up to the national semifinals will be played on the campuses of the competing institutions. Sixteen sites will host four teams for first-and second-round competition Nov. 14 and 15 or 15 and 16.
Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites Nov. 21 and 22 or 22 and 23. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the national semifinals, which take place Dec. 5 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia, with the Old Dominion Conference and the City of Salem as hosts. The national championship game will be played Dec. 7. The Division III women’s soccer national semifinals and championship games will also be held at Kerr Stadium with games on Dec. 4 and Dec. 6.
