FHSU Athletics
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The GAC Tournament picture filled in completely on Saturday night as the semifinalists were determined for the four-team event Fort Hays State University will host November 13 and 15 at FHSU Soccer Stadium. Fort Hays State was the conference regular season champion, going 15-0-3 overall and 11-0-1 in conference play, earning the right to host the tournament as the top seed.
Fort Hays State will take on No. 4 seed Northeastern State in the first semifinal of the tournament, slotted for 3 p.m. on Thursday. Following that contest, No. 2 seed Rogers State will take on No. 3 seed Newman at 6 p.m. Newman and Northeastern State tied in the conference standings for the last two spots in the tournament, but Newman had the tiebreak for a higher seed with a 1-0-1 record against Northeastern State in the regular season. Winners of Thursday's semifinal matches will advance to the championship match on Saturday, slated for 1 p.m. at FHSU Soccer Stadium.
Fort Hays State is the reigning GAC Tournament champion after winning as the No. 3 seed last year in Bethany, Okla., when the tournament was hosted by Southern Nazarene. FHSU defeated SNU in the championship game to claim an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, which was their 10th appearance in the national tournament since the program began in 2011. FHSU has four conference regular season titles (2 MIAA, 2 GAC) and two GAC tournament titles in its program history.
This will be the second time the Tigers host the Great American Conference Tournament at FHSU Soccer Stadium. They also hosted back in 2019 when they won the regular season title, their first year in the GAC, after the MIAA had its own conference through 2018. In 2019, the remaining MIAA men's soccer programs merged with the Great American Conference to make an eight-team conference, which has been governed by the GAC ever since. The conference reduced to seven teams in 2021 and has remained the same since.