The soccer scene in the UMAC has been dominated by the UWS Yellowjackets, with the men’s team claiming their 8th straight title on Saturday, and the women claiming their 4th straight.

Both teams learned of their NCAA tournament opponents on Monday afternoon. UWS men’s soccer was full of celebration and cheers when they found out their opponent, North Park. North Park was 13-2-5 this season, the Yellowjackets 17-3-2. UWS won’t take no for an answer this year.

“Obviously there are no bad teams and there’s only 64 teams left right now out of, you know, over 400 that start the season, so it’s only down to the best teams and North Park is certainly one of them,” said head coach Joe Mooney. “We’ve seen them in the past at different points and so in some ways it’s kind of similar teams that’ll be facing each other. I think it’ll be a really good first test and obviously we’re going to spend the next week preparing for that.”

“I mean if we want to go win the national championship we got to be able to beat any team, so I mean that’s the way we’re looking at it,” said Jake Kidd, a junior forward. “Just playing who we have to play, focusing on ourselves and trying to get to the next round. Get the first one down.”

UWS men’s soccer takes on North Park on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at St. Olaf.

As for the women’s squad, they too learned their fate today, they’ll take on a Carleton College team that went 14-2-5 to UWS’ 14-7-2, but this group of seniors isn’t scared of anything in what could be their last game together.

“I think it’ll be a tough group to say goodbye to. Like I said, they’ve been committed. They’ve done everything on and off the field that we’ve asked of them. Because of that, the team is super motivated to play for them. At the beginning of the year, I told the team, ‘We have 12 seniors, this is their last opportunity. It’s not about them, but it is for them,'” said Allison DeGroot, head coach of UWS women’s soccer.

“Every time we go out there, it could be our last time on the field, which just ignites something a little more. It’s just been so fun. It’s been such high energy, such high positive energy. Everyone contributes. There’s 34 people on our team and there’s not a single person who isn’t,” said Niya Wilson, a fifth year forward.

A three seed marks the highest ever for the UWS women’s soccer program. They’ll be put to the test on Saturday at 3:30 against Carleton, that game played in Dubuque, Iowa.