ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – The Indiana Tech men's soccer team travelled down to the southern coast of Alabama on Friday and Saturday to prep for their Round of 16 contest at the final site of the NAIA National Championship Tournament. The Warriors would play a familiar foe in Bethel University, who they will meet for the third time in just over a year. The two sides, with campuses just under two hours apart in Indiana, played a preseason scrimmage to start the 2025 season and also met in last year's NAIA National Tournament, where the Pilots would eliminate the Warriors in the second round 1-0 in overtime.
 
The Crossroads League Regular Season and Tournament Champion Pilots would finish the season ranked at No. 4 in the country and would receive the No. 3 seed in the national tournament, while the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament Champion Warriors would finish the season ranked at No. 17. Tech would defeat No. 20 ranked and the tournaments No. 14 seed, Baker University, 1-0 in the second round to advance to the final site, while Bethel defeated No. 22 ranked Olivet Nazarene 2-0, setting up a fun matchup between the Warriors and Pilots in the Round of 16.
 
The Warriors would get off on the strong foot to start the opening ten minutes of play, but the Pilots would settle into the game after that and start to control the majority of the first half. Bethel would outshoot Tech 7-1 in the first 45 minutes of play with the wind at their backs but only managed to put one shot on target. Cuba Grant would make the save in goal for the Warriors as the half ended still tied 0-0. Both sides would pick up two yellow cards in a physical first half, but Bethel would take four corner kicks to Tech's one.
 
The Warriors would start to heat up in the second half when Filip Maksimovic found some space in the opponents 18-yard box but put the shot just over the crossbar after having to turn and hit the bouncing ball on a volley. A couple minutes later, the Warriors would earn a corner kick. Emerson Nieto would take it quickly, passing it short to Tramaine Lawson and catching Bethel off guard. Lawson would take a touch and whip in a cross from just in front of the Warriors bench, where Joao Gustavo would put home a glancing header to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the 54^th minute. Following the goal, Bethel would start to send more players forward needing a goal to tie. This would leave the door open for the Warriors to capitalize on the counterattack. Gui Moreira would put two shots on goal but would see them both saved as it stayed a one goal game. The Pilots would record a flurry of corner kicks over the next 20 minutes following the Warriors goal, but the Warriors would defend all seven successfully. The action wouldn't stop there though. Bethel would pick up a red card with about eight minutes to go in regulation, going down to ten men as the Warriors now maintained an advantage on the scoreboard and on the field. Bethel would register two more shots, but both would go high as Tech would secure the 1-0 victory to advance to the quarterfinals! Shots would be even at five a piece in the second half. Grant would finish the game with one save and a shutout as Bethel failed to record another shot on target. The Warriors would finish the game with three shots on target, two from Moreira and one coming on the goal from Gustavo.
 
The Warriors are now 18-4-1 overall on the season and reach the NAIA Quarterfinals for the fourth time in program history. Tech will await the winner of No. 11 seed West Virginia Tech and Ottawa (Kan.). The quarterfinal matchup will take place on Thursday, December 4^th at 7pm.