Ashland University's women's soccer team has qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs in the first season of the NCAA Power Index (NPI) era – and has earned the right to host the first two rounds this coming week at Ferguson Field.
On Monday (Nov. 9) night, the NCAA revealed the 56-team postseason field, and the Eagles are the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region. Ashland (14-3-3), the 2026 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament champion, will face No. 7 seed Grand Valley State (11-4-5) at 3 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 13).
"Any time you go into the tournament, you're looking at it as how you advance and who you're playing," said Ashland head coach
Cayleb Paulino. "For us, it's against one of the teams that we consider us as equals, and putting ourselves in the conversation of one of the best in the region in the last six years.
"We're excited for the opportunity. We have a lot of respect for them."
Said senior defender
Adi Turnbaugh, who scored the game's only goal in a 1-0 win on Saturday (Nov. 7) at Cedarville in the conference tournament title game, "We've had match-ups with Grand Valley in the tournament before. I'm super-excited for the match-up."
In the season-opener on Aug. 27 at home, Ashland and GVSU tied 1-1.
This will be the second time in four seasons the Eagles and Lakers have met in the NCAA postseason.
Friday's other regional opener at noon will be No. 3 seed McKendree (16-2-3) vs. No. 6 seed Wayne State (12-2-5).
The second round will have the two Friday winners face off at 3 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 15).
This is the 16
th time overall Eagle women's soccer has qualified for the D-II postseason (1997-2004, 2018-19, 2021-26). Ashland reached the national semifinal in 1998.
A 56-team tournament (anywhere from 6-8 teams in each of eight regions), the D-II playoffs will begin on Thursday (Nov. 12). The 2026 NCAA Division II women's soccer national championship game will be in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 5.
In the Midwest Region, three automatic bids came from the tournament champions in the Great Midwest, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The other five bids are at-large.
