WINONA LAKE – With the closing of one door, the opportunity of another has opened for the Grace College men’s soccer program.

Suffering a 2-1 loss at Baker University in the opening round of the NAIA National Soccer Tournament, Grace was still afforded a chance to compete for a national title by drawing an at-large selection for the NCCAA National Championships.

The Lancers were given the No. 9 seed in the nine-team field as an at-large invitee. Grace (12-5-4) will play two pool games on Nov. 27-28.

On Nov. 27 Grace will take on the tournament’s No. 1 seed Southwestern Christian at 1 p.m. The following day, Grace will play No. 6 Bluefield, a rematch of the season opener for the Lancers. Bluefield won the first matchup by a 3-0 count in Virginia.

The winner of the three pools as well as the top runner-up will make the national semifinals on Dec. 1. The NCCAA championship is set for Dec. 2 at 4 p.m.

“It does help us that we have seen Bluefield before,” said Grace College men’s soccer head coach Matt Hotchkin. “Bluefield has playmakers, strong players. They will be difficult to beat. I felt like the first game against them got away from us, the last two goals came in the last five minutes.”

Grace will be making its third straight trip to the NCCAA tournament and fifth time overall under Hotchkin. The tournament will be held at Austin Tindall Regional Park in Kissimmee, Fla.

“We need to get two wins, plain and simple. Ties won’t help us get through pool play,” noted Hotchkin. “We have to be in the moment and be everything for the team. You see ‘Florida’ and a lot of teams think that’s an extended vacation. No, it’s a tournament. We need results, and the guys are on board. We get that second opportunity at a national tournament, and that’s big for us. We failed at our first attempt. This gives us a second chance to get the job done.”

Grace saw its chance for an NAIA title go by the boards after a 2-1 loss Saturday night at Baker. Breno Oliveira notched Grace’s goal in the 74th minute to pull the Lancers within one, but were unable to find the equalizer in its first NAIA appearance since 1982.

“The loss was discouraging, I felt like we played good enough,” said Hotchkin of the team’s NAIA appearance. “The first half we got rattled by their physicality. The jitters may have been too much to shake early on. We also hit the post four times, and felt like we could have had a different result.

“We have a decent amount of guys who played in the NCCAAs last year, and that will hopefully help us.”