JACKSON, Miss.-Belhaven University and the University of Texas at Brownsville will meet at H.T. Newell Field on Saturday in the 2011 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Opening Round. The Blazers and Scorpions have played in each of the last two seasons and this weekend's contest will be the first time they have locked up in postseason play. Belhaven got the better of UTB in 2010 by taking home a 2-1 win and in 2008 the schools battled to a 3-3 tie. Both matches were played at neutral sites, but the Blazers will have the home field advantage in this weekend's contest.

The Blazers are the 12th seed and will be making their eighth overall appearance in the national tournament. Belhaven has an all time record of 8-7-4 in NAIA National Tournament play including a National Championship in 1992. The Blazers defeated the University of St. Thomas (TX) 2-1 in the opening round in 2010 before falling to SSAC rival University of Mobile in the round of 16 4-3. Belhaven Head Coach Steve DeCou, who is in his fifth season at the helm of the Blazers, has guided the team to a 65-27-7 overall record. DeCou reached 100 wins in 2010 and now has a record of 119-90-15 which includes matches he coached while at Trinity Christian College (ILL).

Setting the pace on offense for Belhaven is sophomore forward Achille Campion. Campion, who hails from Stella, France, was named Southern States Athletic Conference First Team All-Conference after leading Belhaven in goals with 15 despite being sidelined for five matches due to an injury. Campion also has one assist, two game winning scores, and 31 total points heading into the national tournament. Campion's 15 goals are tied for second most in the SSAC and his point total is fifth best in the league. Will Monsour, a sophomore from Shreveport, LA, has also provided a huge spark on offense scoring 10 goals including a pair of game winners. Monsour has two assists and 22 points heading into the National Championship Opening Round.

Belhaven goalkeeper Greg Hartley has anchored the Blazer defense in 2011 and is certainly a big reason why the Blazers are heading back to the national tournament. Hartley was a First Team SSAC All-Conference selection and was named the SSAC Defensive Player of the Year for his work in the net. Hartley, a junior from Manchester, England, owns a 13-4 record in goal this season and has nine shutouts in those 13 match victories. Hartley has allowed only 14 goals heading into the national tournament while making 57 saves. During the regular season, Hartley was picked as the SSAC Defensive Player of the Week three times and was named the NAIA Defensive Player of the Week once this season.

The University of Texas at Brownsville is still looking for its first win in NAIA postseason play and hopes that win number one will come in their fourth straight appearance on Saturday. Texas-Brownsville is 0-2-1 in their previous three national tournament matches. The Scorpions lost in the NAIA National Champion Opening Round game to University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma 3-0 in 2010. UTB is one of 24 automatic qualifiers after being the Red River Athletic Conference tournament runner-up. The Scorpions fell to Huston-Tillotson (TX) 1-0 in the conference championship game. UTB is led by fifth year Head Coach Dan Balaguero who owns an impressive record guiding the Scorpions to an overall record of 73-19-6 coming into the weekend. Balaguero has also coached at Virginia Intermont College (03-06) and Chaplain College (00-03).

Junior Leigh Veidman is the go to player on offense for Texas at Brownsville scoring 14 goals in 20 games this season. Veidman, a forward from Liverpool, England also has an assist and team best 29 points. Veidman has fired in six game winning goals and that ranks him ninth in the nation that category. Opponents can't afford to lose track of senior Steve Howard and sophomore Orrin Farrell who can also provide looks at the net. Howard is second on the team in goals and assists with eight and five respectively. Farrell has added six goals and leads the team in assists with eight in 2011.Veidman, Howard, and Farrell were all named to the RRAC All-Conference Team.

On defense, goalkeeper Michael Argumedo has seen the majority of the time in net posting nine wins compared to just two losses and one tie. Argumedo has made 60 saves and allowed just 10 goals all year in 15 matches played. As a team, UTB has six shutouts and have scored at least one goal in all but three matches in 2011.

The National Championship Opening Round will be comprised of 30 teams playing at 15 on-campus sites. The winners of the National Championship Opening Round games, as well as Mobile (Ala.), will advance to the final site from Nov. 28 - Dec. 3 in Orange Beach, Ala. Saturday's kickoff is slated for 2:00 PM and fans can follow the action through Live Stats by visiting the Belhaven Athletics website at blazers.belhaven.edu.