Wrapping up a huge weekend of soccer in Minnesota is the 2026 NSIC Championship match. Sunday afternoon in Mankato will see the one loss Mavericks host the 7th seeded Beavers for the conference title and an automatic spot in the NCAA tournament. MSU was expected to be in the final as early as the pre-season when the Mavericks were favoured to win the conference. Bemidji State was picked to finished third, but a midseason rut that saw the Beavers hit a three match winless skid helped drop BSU to 7th. Part of that losing streak was a 1–0 loss to the Mavericks in Bemidji at the beginning of October.
How they got here
#2 Minnesota State Mavericks (1st seed in NSIC)
Minnesota State has been the dominant team in the NSIC for a number of years now and a goal of the Mavericks has been to make the D2 National Championship again. Picked to win the conference at the start of the year the Mavericks did just that again in 2o26. MSU's season started with them facing and beating some top teams from the GLIAC and MIAA. Minnesota State then started the NSIC schedule with seven unbeaten in the conference (and 10 overall) before falling to UMD on 4 October. The Mavs then proceeded to outscore their opponents 27–4 in the seven matches after the loss.
With the top seed in hand for the playoffs and ranked inside the top five nationally, Minnesota State entered NSIC playoffs as basically a lock for the NCAA tournament. MSU dispatched St. Cloud State 3–0 in the first round, before defeating Northern State (SD) on penalties in the second round. Junior forward Amara Smith and Senior forward Maddix Archer lead MSU in offensive production with a combined 25 goals and 12 assists in 20 matches played. Defensively the Mavs have pulled 15 shutouts this season, with goalkeeper Lauren McAlpine playing every minute in goal for Minnesota State.
Bemidji State Beavers (7th seed in NSIC)
Bemidji State was picked to finish third in the conference this season. At the start of the year, it looked as if the Beavers could challenge the Mavericks for the regular season title. The Beavers opened conference play with a five match unbeaten run after a 1-1-1 stretch in non-conference play. After drawing with Minot State the Beavers lost to both Mary and Minnesota State, before beating St. Cloud State to end the short losing skid. Another draw was followed up by two wins and Bemidji State headed into late October looking good. But two draws and a loss in their last four pushed Bemidji further down the table and into the 7th seed.
Facing the heavily favoured regular season conference co-champion Mary Marauders it appeared the Beavers season would be over in the first round. But a first round upset in Bismarck, ND sent BSU to the NSIC Championship Weekend. Another revenge win against Minnesota-Duluth in the semi-finals put them into the final against the only other conference team to earn a win over BSU. The biggest problem the Beavers face is their relative lack of scoring compared to Minnesota State. With only 25 goals scored in 20 matches plus no player having over five goals this season, the offence will have to work even harder to break down the Maverick defence.
