FHSU Athletics
INDIANAPOLIS – Fort Hays State Women's Soccer will be making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and their fourth appearance in the tournament overall. The Tigers were selected as the No. 7 seed in the Central Regional, set to begin on Friday. FHSU will take on Emporia State in the opening round, which received the No. 2 seed and hosting rights for one of the two regional pods.
The first two rounds of the tournament are hosted by the region's top two seeds, which for the Central Regional is No. 1 Washburn and No. 2 Emporia State. The winner of the Fort Hays State/Emporia State matchup will move on to face either No. 3 seed St. Cloud State or No. 6 seed Bemidji State in the second round on Sunday. The SCSU/BSU match will be at 10 a.m. and the FHSU/ESU match will be at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Fort Hays State was one of five at-large selections in the Central Regional, with three automatic bids going to conference tournament champions. The MIAA has four teams competing in the Central Regional, along with three from the NSIC and one from the GAC.
This will be the fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the FHSU women. They made a run to the Round of 16 during the 2016 season, and made opening-round appearances in 2012 and 2022. The history of the program is still relatively young since 2011 was the first year of soccer at Fort Hays State University.
Fort Hays State had success against Emporia State during the regular season, going 1-0-1 against the Hornets. The teams played to a 1-1 draw in Hays in non-conference play and then the Tigers defeated the Hornets in Emporia during conference play 3-1.For postseason, if matches are tied at the end of regulation, the teams have to play out the entirety of two 10-minute overtime periods. If the score is tied at the end of the extra 20 minutes of action, a penalty-kick shootout determines the team advancing in the bracket.
NCAA II Central Regional Schedule
Emporia, Kan.
#3 St. Cloud State vs. #6 Bemidji State - Friday, 10 a.m.
#2 Emporia State vs. #7 Fort Hays State - Friday, 1 p.m.
Winner of MSU/NWMSU vs. Winner of BSU/UCO - Sunday, 1 p.m.
Topeka, Kan.
#4 Minnesota State vs. #5 Central Missouri - Friday, 3 p.m.
#1 Washburn vs. #8 Ouachita Baptist - Friday, 6 p.m.
Winner of MSU/UCM vs. Winner of WU/OBU - Sunday, 1 PM