FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's soccer team will be taking the field in the NAIA postseason for the first time in 10 years Friday afternoon as they host Vanguard University in the Fort Wayne Bracket of the 2019 NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
 
Tech comes into the game ranked 17^th in the nation with a 16-4-1 mark, the second-best record in school history, while they have not lost a game in their last in their last 14 matches, going 13-0-1 since the start of conference play. The Warriors have allowed just four goals in their five matches during the month of November and shutout three of their foes, including then No. 22-ranked University of Northwestern Ohio on Nov. 5 to clinch the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) regular season title and Madonna University on Nov. 16 to win the WHAC Tournament.
 
Offensively, the team is led by freshman Noe Garcia, who was named the WHAC Offensive Player of the Year with a team-best 11 goals and 25 points, while junior transfer Maxwell Amoako has eight goals on the year and earned a spot on the WHAC All-Newcomer Team. Freshman Luke Jones also earned First-Team All-Conference honors with a conference-best 11 assists to go along with five goals.
 
Defensively, the backline is manned by senior Dean Ward, junior Scott McCarthy and freshman Will Harris, with Harris being tabbed to the WHAC First-Team and McCarthy garnering a spot on the Second-Team. Junior Edwin Rosado has seen the bulk of the lions share in goal with 16 starts and a 12-2-1, while senior Ivan Safranic has filled in admirably during the WHAC Tournament while Rosado was injured, going 3-0 and allowing just two goals in 270 minutes of action. The two have combined for a 1.02 goals against average and surrendered just 22 goals in 1,940 minutes.
 
The Lions head into the playoffs with a 12-6-0 mark and went 6-2-0 in the Golden States Athletic Conference (GSAC) to finish third in the conference. Vanguard had four players: junior goalkeeper Victor Negrete, sophomore midfielder Andrew Robles, sophomore midfielder Marc Trejo and senior midfielder Miguel Tapia named to the All-GAC Teams. The Lions have advanced to the final site of the NAIA National Championships the last two seasons and bring plenty of experience with them to the Summit City.
 
The winner of Friday's match will advance to play top-seeded and No. 3-ranked University of Mobile in the Opening Round championship for the right to go to the final site in Irvine, California. The Rams are 16-1-2 and went 7-0-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) to win the regular season title. Mobile is strong defensively as its boasts SSAC Defensive Player of the Year Ellis Roberts, who manned the Lions backline while senior goalkeeper Michael Samnik has allowed just 10 goals in 17 games for a 0.60 GAA.
 
Friday's match will take place at 1 p.m. from Warrior Athletic Field while Saturday's championship game is set for 5 p.m.