COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce soccer team travels to Golden, Colo. to face Colorado School of Mines in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament on Friday. The Orediggers have knocked out the Lions in each of the last two postseason tournaments.
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at Colorado School of Mines
WHEN: 1 p.m. CST
WHERE: Stermole Soccer Stadium, Golden, Colo.
LIVE STATS & VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/csm/
 
The Lions are coming off of a 1-0 win over Midwestern State University in the second round, after earning a first round bye as the No. 2 seed in the region. CSM, who earned the No. 1 seed in the South Central Region, advanced on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw with Dallas Baptist in the second round. They have a record of 19-2-1 and before their draw were riding a seven-game win streak.
 
The Lions face an uphill battle against CSM, who is 12-0-1 on their home pitch. While not looking forward to the altitude challenge, A&M-Commerce head coach Neil Piper is confident his team will be ready to play and has the ability to win their match.
 
"They are a solid team everywhere," Piper said of CSM. "They are difficult to beat at their place. They know that. But I think we have a shot obviously, or we wouldn't be going. They know what we are going to do and we know what they are going to do. Hopefully the third time is the charm."
 
As Piper alluded, this is the third consecutive season that these two teams have faced each other in the NCAA tournament, and the second time they have met in the Sweet 16. Mines has knocked the Lions out both times. They played the Orediggers to a draw in the Sweet 16 match in 2014 before falling in penalty kicks. In 2015, the Lions fell 2-1 in a hard-fought match in the round of 32.
 
"It's a mental challenge," Piper said. "Obviously we have lost to them the last two years we have played.  But it wasn't like we were blown out against them. They were good games. We just fell a little bit short. We lost seven starters from last year's team. A lot of these kids don't realize that they have knocked us out the last two years. Maybe that's a good thing."
 
Piper likes the way his team has been able to score goals, but thinks his team has yet to hit its best form. He is hopeful that his players find the extra gear he knows is in them to be able to get a win on Friday.
 
"We are going to have to execute the game plan," Piper said. "We have to attack what weaknesses Mines have. They don't have many but the few they have, we will try to attack them. Hopefully we will get a little bit lucky and come out with a good result."
 
With a win, the Lions would advance to the final eight, something the team hasn't done since the 1999 season. Piper is confident that his team's experience, having made four consecutive NCAA appearances, will push his team over that hurdle.
 
"It's been a while since we've gotten past this round of 16," he said. "This kind of seems to be the roadblock for us. I think for the program, for us to get through would be great. It would be well deserved for these seniors that have gotten to four straight NCAA tournaments."
 
The winner of the game will face the winner of the other regional final held at the same field following the South Central Region final match. No. 1 seed Western Washington will play No. 9 seed UC-San Diego in the West Region Final. The National Quarterfinal between the two winners will be played at 1 p.m. CST at Stermole Stadium on Sunday.