NASHVILLE – A conference champion. A national top-10 team. A postseason rematch with a semifinal berth on the line. No. 7 (United Soccer Coaches) Trevecca Nazarene University men's soccer hosts No. 8 seed Mississippi Christian at 6 p.m. CT on Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Trevecca Soccer Pitch. The Trojans enter as the Gulf South Conference's No. 1 seed and the No. 1 team in the United Soccer Coaches South Region poll.

Republic Bank sponsors the quarterfinal and pays admission for every fan. Everyone attends FREE. Students, families, alumni and the Nashville community can fill the Hill for Trevecca's first home GSC men's soccer quarterfinal, courtesy of Republic Bank. Bring the family, bring your friends and help turn a historic season into a postseason home-field advantage.

Trevecca finished the regular season 12-1-2 overall and 7-1-2 in the GSC, sharing the championship with AUM at 23 points. The title is the men's soccer program's first conference championship and Trevecca's first GSC title in any sport. A 3-0 win at AUM on Oct. 17 delivered the head-to-head tiebreaker and the tournament's top seed.

Picked eighth in the preseason, Danny Leavy's Trojans carry a program-record seven-match winning streak, an all-time high 12 wins and goals in all 15 matches into the postseason. The Oct. 27 coaches' polls lift Trevecca six spots to No. 7 nationally and to the top of the South Region, both program bests.

Mississippi Christian brings its own postseason history. The Choctaws ended Trevecca's 2025 season in the quarterfinals, then surrendered six goals to the Trojans in September. That 6-2 Trevecca win featured 42 combined shots, eight goals and 10 saves by Hunter Walker. Saturday's rematch decides who keeps playing for the GSC tournament crown.

2026 GSC CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

The higher seeds host the quarterfinals. Play moves to the Loretta P. Spencer Sports Complex Championship Field in Huntsville, Ala., for the semifinals Thursday, Nov. 5, and final Saturday, Nov. 7. A quarterfinal win sends Trevecca into the 3 p.m. semifinal against the Montevallo-Lee winner. The tournament champion earns the GSC's automatic NCAA Division II Championship berth.

ONE REMATCH, TWO VERY DIFFERENT CHALLENGES

Trevecca's attack enters with 37 goals and 42 assists, but Mississippi Christian's September shot total supplies the warning. The Choctaws created 25 attempts and put 12 on target despite the four-goal defeat. Trevecca needs the ball movement that built its early lead and the defensive discipline that allowed only one goal over its final four matches.

The Trojans struck four times in the first 30 minutes Sept. 19. Chris Douglas finished Haden Brown's pass at 3:51, then scored at 13:00 after Walker and Judah Jones created the chance. Jack Franklin made it 3-0 at 23:17. Zion Jones scored his first collegiate goal at 29:24 from Franklin and Douglas.

Karim Gegg answered with six seconds left in the first half. Harry McLean cut the margin to 4-2 at 69:42, putting the match back within reach before Daniel Shiel scored at 83:40 and Zion Jones added his second at 87:06. Trevecca converted six of eight shots on goal and set an NCAA-era match record with nine assists. Franklin added two assists to his goal, and Douglas finished with two goals and an assist.

Walker's 10 saves set his Trevecca career high. The September match gives Brown, Ciaran Bellis, Tomas Barros and Elias Lunde a clear assignment: limit Gegg's shooting opportunities, track McLean's runs and reduce the work reaching their goalkeeper. At the other end, MCU must account for the nation's goals-per-game leader without opening lanes for Shiel, Zion Jones and Franklin.

THE SERIES

Mississippi Christian leads the series 3-1 and holds a 15-9 goal advantage. Trevecca's September win was its first in the series. Franklin scored the Trojans' goal in last year's quarterfinal; current Choctaws Alvaro Pena and Patrick Vukoje also scored in that match.

QUARTERFINAL TEAM COMPARISON

Gegg leads MCU with six goals, 13 points, 47 shots and 20 shots on goal. His 3.36 shots per game rank fourth in the GSC and 18th nationally. McLean adds five goals on 15 shots. Hayden Mulrooney contributes two goals and three assists; Lian Feridani has a goal and three assists.

Santiago Dominguez Ochoa carries a 1.91 goals-against average, 15 saves and three shutouts. Elliot Duffy adds a 1.79 GAA, 14 saves and one shutout. MCU finished 3-7-4 overall and 2-5-3 in the GSC, earning the last berth with nine points. The Choctaws held UAH scoreless until goals at 87:20 and 88:14 in a 2-0 loss Oct. 23.

The eighth seed still carries the experience of a 9-0-2 GSC season, a conference final and the program's first NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance in 2025. Rafael Costa leads MCU in his second season. Gage Sorey, Pena and Luke Nolan earned preseason All-GSC honors. Gegg, McLean and Feridani were Newcomers to Watch, and McLean earned GSC Freshman of the Week on Sept. 8.

DOUGLAS KEEPS THE NATIONAL SCORING RACE IN THE GSC SPOTLIGHT

Douglas leads Division II in goals per game at 1.23 and points per game at 2.85. His 16 goals tie West Alabama's David Nunez for the GSC lead and rank second nationally, one behind Palm Beach Atlantic's Kobi Thomas. Douglas's 37 points rank fourth, one behind Thomas, Nunez and Northern Michigan's Luca Rosen at 38.

The two GSC scorers just met with a championship at stake. Douglas scored the winner in Trevecca's 2-1 victory over West Alabama on Oct. 23, while Walker and the back line held Nunez scoreless. Douglas's fifth game-winning goal clinched the title share and helped earn his second consecutive GSC Offensive Player of the Week award.

Trevecca and West Alabama occupy opposite halves of the bracket. A postseason scoring rematch requires both teams to reach the final. First, Douglas faces an MCU defense that allowed 26 goals, and Nunez faces a UAH team that allowed only 11. Douglas scored six times over Trevecca's final three regular-season matches, adding an assist for 13 points.

The junior from St. Johns, Antigua, also represented Antigua and Barbuda in September. He scored twice in a 5-0 CONCACAF Nations League win over Anguilla on Sept. 26, then returned to Trevecca and produced a hat trick at Freed-Hardeman three days later. His college season follows an injury-shortened nine-match campaign in 2025.

THE RANKINGS AND THE NCAA STAKES

Trevecca reached its first United Soccer Coaches Top 25 at No. 20 on Oct. 13, climbed to No. 13 on Oct. 20 and reaches No. 7 in the Oct. 27 poll. The Trojans also move from No. 2 to No. 1 in the South Region. AUM joins Trevecca in the national poll at No. 14, while UAH receives votes.

TREVECCA'S CURRENT RANKING POSITIONS

*Independent NPI calculations from D2Soccer and Inkblot Sports place Trevecca 12th nationally and third in Super Region 2. Inkblot lists a 58.695 rating. These are tracking positions, not an official NCAA ranking release.

The coaches' South Region poll and NCAA Super Region 2 measure different fields. The South coaches' poll covers the GSC and Sunshine State Conference. Super Region 2 also includes the South Atlantic, Peach Belt and Conference Carolinas fields. Coaches' votes do not determine NCAA at-large selection; NPI evaluates Division II results and schedule strength.

Ten teams advance from Super Region 2, with conference automatic qualifiers receiving places before the remaining at-large selections. Trevecca's regular-season GSC title supplies the top conference tournament seed; the tournament crown carries the automatic NCAA berth. The NCAA announces the Division II field at 5:30 p.m. Central Monday, Nov. 9. Continued postseason results can change NPI positions.

UNITED SOCCER COACHES TOP 25 | OCT. 27

UAH is among the teams receiving votes. Records above are those printed in the Oct. 27 poll.

UNITED SOCCER COACHES SOUTH REGION | OCT. 27

SUPER REGION 2 NPI TRACKING | OCT. 26 DATA

Inkblot Sports' independent calculations above cover Division II games. Trevecca's eligible Division II record is 10-1-2; its overall 12-1-2 record also includes wins over Johnson and Freed-Hardeman. MCU sits 41st in the same Super Region 2 tracking table at 46.583.

FINAL GSC REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS

Trevecca and AUM shared the regular-season title. The Trojans' head-to-head win determined the top seed. UAH finished two points behind the co-champions; Montevallo claimed the last quarterfinal hosting position. Union, Delta State and Spring Hill missed the eight-team field.

THE REST OF THE QUARTERFINAL FIELD

No. 4 Montevallo vs. No. 5 Lee, 6 p.m. The winner meets Trevecca or MCU in the first semifinal. Montevallo enters 7-5-4 with three straight wins and a 29-goal attack led by Joaquin Wladdimiro's seven goals. Lee brings an 8-4-4 record and the league's best team GAA at 0.75. Charles Carriglitto leads GSC goalkeepers at 0.667 GAA and an .846 save percentage. Lee won the regular-season meeting 1-0 at Montevallo on Sept. 19. The pairing matters to Trevecca: the Trojans drew 1-1 at Montevallo and suffered their only loss, 3-1, against Lee.

No. 2 AUM vs. No. 7 Christian Brothers, 7 p.m. Nationally ranked AUM enters 10-2-3 with eight team shutouts and only 12 goals allowed. Jakob Buhrkuhl leads the GSC with eight individual shutouts and collected four weekly goalkeeper honors, including a shared Oct. 27 award. Christian Brothers finished 4-6-5, with five conference draws and eight goals from Lauri Orava. AUM won their regular-season meeting 1-0 on Sept. 19. The winner advances to the second semifinal.

No. 3 UAH vs. No. 6 West Alabama, 2 p.m. UAH's 10-1-3 record and 11 goals allowed meet the GSC's most productive overall attack. West Alabama leads the league with 43 goals, 119 points and 2.69 goals per game. Nunez has 16 goals and six assists for 38 points; Jesper Bakli adds eight goals. UAH counters with Oli Orzechowski's 10 goals, a GSC-best 4.14 shots per game and four game-winners. The Tigers finished 6-6-4 and 1-4-2 away from home. UAH goalkeeper Sonny Wright earned his second weekly honor after the shutout of MCU; freshman Luis McCabe also won the league's final freshman award.

2026 GSC WEEKLY AWARDS | TOURNAMENT TEAMS

Counts cover the nine announcement dates Sept. 1-Oct. 27, including both recipients of the final goalkeeper award. West Alabama's three offensive awards belong to Nunez; Douglas owns Trevecca's two. These totals cover GSC weekly awards only.

EVERY 2026 TREVECCA AWARD AND HONOR

Four Trojans earned eight GSC weekly awards. Douglas added four TSWA selections and the D2CIDA national award, bringing the individual weekly total to 13. Trevecca swept all four GSC categories Oct. 20 after shutout wins over Spring Hill and then-No. 10 AUM. Douglas repeated as the offensive winner Oct. 27 for the week ending Oct. 25.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Douglas's national award followed five goals and an assist in the Spring Hill and AUM wins. Brown supplied four assists and helped protect both clean sheets, earning defender and freshman honors together. Walker made four individual saves across the two shutouts.

Joe Coyle, Levi Jones and Zion Jones: 2026 GSC Newcomers to Watch.

Trevecca: GSC regular-season co-champion; the program's first conference title and the University's first GSC title in any sport.

Trevecca: No. 1 GSC tournament seed, first home GSC quarterfinal and third consecutive GSC Championship berth.

Trevecca: First national coaches' ranking Oct. 13; program-best No. 7 nationally and No. 1 South Region on Oct. 27.

THE TEAM RECORDS THAT FELL

All-time records include Trevecca's NAIA and NCAA years. The NCAA-era comparisons below follow the program's published NCAA record lists.

TEAM RECORDS BROKEN

Trevecca also opened 4-0, matching the 2006 team's all-time opening win streak and setting the NCAA-era standard. The seven-match unbeaten start at 5-0-2 set a program best. Seven GSC wins match the program's high for conference wins from the 2017 and 2018 G-MAC seasons.

The nine-assist match came against Saturday's opponent Sept. 19. Trevecca passed the season assist record against Spring Hill on Oct. 14, reaching 38 that night. The same match pushed the season scoring streak to 13, beyond the 2005 mark. West Alabama supplied the seventh straight win and 23rd conference point.

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS BROKEN

Douglas tied Baskin's goal mark Sept. 29 at Freed-Hardeman, then broke the season goals and points records during his Spring Hill hat trick. His second goal at AUM, at 88:37, passed Wright's career goal record. The West Alabama winner raised it to 27.

Brown tied the old seven-assist mark against Spring Hill, then broke it with his first assist at AUM and extended it with his second. Judah Jones had tied Wright's previous mark at Union on Oct. 7.

Walker's ninth win at Union passed Tyler Delgado's NCAA-era season record of eight from 2018. His 10th against Spring Hill passed Shrum's all-time nine. Walker's sixth solo shutout that night broke his own NCAA-era mark, and career shutout No. 11 passed Braydon Brown. The record comparison preserves the historical half-shutout credits.

RECORDS UNDER PRESSURE ON HALLOWEEN

One more clean sheet produces two new season standards. Walker's seven solo shutouts tie Shrum's all-time record from 2002, and Trevecca's seven team shutouts tie the NCAA-era team mark from 2012. Team shutouts and individual solo shutouts remain separate records.

RECORD WATCH

Brown needs one assist for Trevecca's first NCAA-era 10-assist season. Five more give him 14 and pass Erick Oduor's all-time 13 from 2003. A Walker solo shutout also extends his all-time career record to 13. A credited win raises his Trevecca career total to 19.

Douglas passed Nicolas Reinhard's 61 career points against West Alabama and now ranks second in the NCAA era at 63. His NCAA-era season records remain short of Mauricio Dos Santos' all-time 28 goals and 62 points from 2003. Mark Foster holds the all-time career marks of 41 goals and 95 points. Douglas ranks third all-time in career goals and fourth in career points.

Walker's GAA remains a season-rate record chase until postseason play ends. Advancing on penalty kicks counts as a draw in the official record and adds no team or goalkeeper win. Trevecca can advance without extending its winning streak.

STREAKS AND TRENDS THAT DEFINE THE RUN

Seven straight wins, Sept. 26-Oct. 23: Trevecca outscored opponents 18-5 and recorded four shutouts.

Six straight GSC wins: Christian Brothers, Delta State, Union, Spring Hill, AUM and West Alabama. Freed-Hardeman was nonconference.

Goals in all 15 matches: The Trojans carry the program's all-time single-season scoring streak into the quarterfinal.

Unbeaten away, 5-0-2: The road schedule included wins at then-No. 19 Carson-Newman and then-No. 10 AUM.

Three straight shutouts, Oct. 7-17: Union, Spring Hill and AUM preceded the title-clinching finale.

407:36 without conceding: The run began after Delta State's penalty at 32:46 on Oct. 3 and ended at 80:22 against West Alabama.

A 10-1 finish over the final four games: Trevecca went 4-0 against Union, Spring Hill, AUM and West Alabama.

A 23-4 second-half goal advantage: Trevecca allowed only four goals after halftime across the regular season.

TREVECCA AMONG THE NCAA DIVISION II LEADERS

The updated NCAA summary places Trevecca in the national top 10 in four team categories. Its 42 assists and 2.80 assists per game both rank second. The Trojans rank sixth in points per game at 7.73 and won-lost-tied percentage at .867.

NCAA TEAM TOP 10

Trevecca also ranks 11th in team save percentage (.827) and total points (116), 12th in goal differential (+23), 13th in scoring offense (2.47), 20th in total goals (37) and 22nd in shot accuracy (.498). The team save percentage includes four TEAM saves beyond Walker's 63 individual saves.

NCAA PLAYER TOP 25

The graphs include every TNU team top-10 and player top-25 entry in the updated NCAA report. T indicates a tie. Shiel converted both penalty kicks and shares a 1.000 rate with 200 other players nationally. Bellis's red-card entry is a disciplinary statistic. NCAA and conference columns compare all matches, with each report's qualification rules.

TREVECCA AMONG THE GSC LEADERS

Across all matches, Trevecca leads the league in assists, assists per game, points per game, shots per game, goal differential and won-lost-tied percentage. Brown and Judah Jones stand first and second in assists. Douglas leads in goals and points per game and game-winning goals, and shares the goal lead with Nunez.

GSC TEAM TOP THREE | ALL MATCHES

The NCAA team summary credits all 67 saves for the .827 team save percentage. The GSC team table displays .818, reflecting the goalkeepers' individual save percentage. Walker's individual figure is .818. National and GSC reports also apply their own qualification and rounding rules.

GSC PLAYER TOP 10 | ALL MATCHES

The GSC table uses conference statistical-report ranks for the traditional categories and NCAA conference comparisons for shot accuracy and penalty-kick conversion. In the NCAA disciplinary listings, Bellis and Barros each rank tied sixth in the GSC with four yellow cards; Bellis shares the red-card lead at one. Those are statistical entries, not awards.

THE CONFERENCE-ONLY PRODUCTION

Trevecca's 10 GSC matches produced 23 goals, 29 assists and 75 points, with nine goals allowed and four shutouts. The 23 goals led the final conference schedule, one ahead of West Alabama's 22. Brown supplied eight league assists. Douglas scored nine GSC goals; Shiel added six and three game-winning goals.

TREVECCA IN GSC MATCHES

Walker made 43 individual saves in league play, allowing nine goals for a 0.90 GAA and .827 save percentage. Four additional TEAM saves raised Trevecca's league save total to 47 and team save percentage to .839. These totals cover conference matches only; the preceding national and GSC leader graphs cover all matches.

THE PLAYERS BEHIND THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Douglas and Shiel supplied 24 of Trevecca's 37 goals. Brown's nine assists lead Judah Jones's seven, Douglas and Shiel's five each and Franklin's three. Ten Trojans scored, 15 recorded an assist and 16 earned a point.

REGULAR SEASON SCORING

Walker finished the regular season with 63 individual saves, 14 goals allowed, a 0.933 GAA, an .818 save percentage, seven solo shutouts and a 12-1-2 record. Brown, Bellis, Barros and Lunde played all 90 minutes against West Alabama. That group and Walker face an MCU attack that already showed it can create sustained pressure on the Hill.

SEASON REVIEW | FROM EIGHTH IN THE POLL TO FIRST ON THE FIELD

Trevecca began in 1991, returned in 2000 after a nine-year absence and joined the GSC in 2024. Leavy, the program's fourth head coach, leads his 18th Trevecca season with a 118-159-22 record entering the quarterfinal. His 2026 team turned an eighth-place preseason projection into the program's first conference title.

The opening four wins gave the Trojans a foundation. The September draws at Montevallo and UAH showed they could take points away from home against eventual quarterfinal hosts. Lee then handed Trevecca its only loss. The response was seven consecutive wins, with the Trojans finding decisive goals late, winning a 4-3 road game and closing the regular season with four matches that yielded only one goal.

THE 15-MATCH REGULAR SEASON

The final two wins joined the season's scoring and defensive stories. At AUM, Douglas broke the NCAA-era career goal record, Brown broke the season assist record and Walker tied the all-time season solo shutout mark. Against West Alabama, Trevecca held Nunez without a point and protected the lead after the Tigers scored at 80:22.

"I'm so glad I got to be a part of the greatest night in the history of Trevecca men's soccer," Leavy said after the West Alabama match.

BE THERE FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER

Fill the Hill for the Halloween quarterfinal: Trevecca vs. Mississippi Christian, 6 p.m. Central Oct. 31. Republic Bank sponsors the game and pays admission for everyone. All fans attend FREE. A semifinal berth is on the line.

FloCollege streams the GSC Championship with a subscription. Trevecca Athletics provides live statistics and updates. Free admission applies to the Oct. 31 quarterfinal at Trevecca.

Trevecca Men's Soccer | Schedule / Live Stats | GSC Championship Central | Standings | Stats

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