FHSU Athletics
INDIANAPOLIS – Fort Hays State was ranked No. 11 in the final edition of the NCAA Super Region 3 rankings, released on November 13, 2024. Ten teams from the Super Region will be selected to the NCAA Tournament, which begins next week following conference tournaments throughout the country this week.
Four of the ten teams selected to the Super Region 3 field of the NCAA Tournament will be automatic selections, which includes conference tournament champions from the GAC, GLVC, GMAC, and GLIAC conferences. Fort Hays State is the No. 3 seed in the GAC Tournament this week, which will be held Thursday and Saturday (Nov. 14 and 16) in Bethany, Oklahoma hosted by No. 1 seed Southern Nazarene.
According to the Super Region 3 PDF found at the bottom of the region rankings on NCAA.com, Fort Hays State has the 10th-best performance indicator and 11th-best RPI in Super Region 3. FHSU has the second-best in-region record (11-2-2) with an .800 win percentage and the third-best win-loss percentage against NCAA Division II competition in the region (11-3-3) at .735.
The Tigers will be attempting to knock off Rogers State in the GAC Tournament Semifinals, which currently holds the No. 10 ranking in the Super Region. The only categories Rogers State holds an edge over FHSU on the Super Region formula PDF is strength of schedule (.537 compared to .476) and RPI (10th compared to 11th), otherwise FHSU holds the advantage in three categories for in-region win-loss record, win-loss record in NCAA Division II matches, and performance indicator. The win percentage against teams with above .500 records is dead even between FHSU and RSU. The Hillcats are 1-0-1 against the Tigers this year, so FHSU is looking to level the results between the teams for the year. The semifinal match could be a big key for FHSU elevating in the super region rankings even more after ranking No. 12 last week, but still must go into the conference tournament with the mindset of winning the tournament title and taking the automatic qualifier. Otherwise, it is left in the hands of the NCAA Tournament committee.
Though Saginaw Valley State still leads the Super Region rankings, No. 2 ranked McKendree owns the top RPI and performance indicator in the region. McKendree has not lost a match this season, currently at 12-0-6 overall.
The NCAA Tournament selection show for NCAA Division II Men's Soccer is set for Monday, November 18 at 6:30 p.m. A total of 40 schools are selected to the national tournament (10 from each of four Super Regions).