OLIVER KIMOKEO | sports editor

Imagine that you had to make the choice between the California Baptist Lancers and Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions for a seed in this year’s NAIA Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament.

CBU defeated PLNU, 1-0 in two overtimes in their regular season contest. The Lancers also won the Region II semifinal against the Sea Lions, 2-0.

In addition, the Lancers are 7-2-1 in GSAC while the Sea Lions are 6-3-1. The Lancers were ranked No. 8 in the final NAIA poll and the Sea Lions were ranked at No. 11.

So, what team did you choose? The Lancers are clearly the no-brainer choice. However, PLNU was chosen as the GSAC at-large team.

How it that possible? According to NAIA tournament criteria, CBU’s weakness was the Lancers spent less time in the NAIA top 10 over the whole season than the Sea Lions.

Half of the formula for inclusion is based on where and how much time the team spends in the NAIA rankings. The other half is based on how many points the team earns in the Longo rating system. This is a point system which gives teams points on who they played and how much they scored against them.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the NAIA version of the popular controversial BCS system.

Is this system really neccessary for determining a CBU squad over a PLNU squad? The Lancers have proven themselves better than the Sea Lions in 2007 yet they are denied the trip to Daytona Beach.

Once again, statisical formulas triumph over human judgment. The playoff system is in place to help aid a national consensus of what teams are really the top teams across the NAIA. What the system does not account for is no-brainer choices such as CBU. Now, PLNU is not a bad squad by any means but I would not send them over CBU.

APU is not much affected by this playoff system at this time because the Cougars have kept themselves on top of the postseason perch.

Even considering that APU soccer, both men’s and women’s, were virtual locks for the national tournaments before regionals, the Cougars set their schedules in motion with the intention of playing top squads in the preseason.

There is nothing wrong with challenging ourselves early—the Cougars did quite well. However, there is motivation based in the playoff system for playing top ten teams and running up the score on weaker competition.

And that brings the NAIA to an ethical dilemma: does the playoff system motivate teams to reach for an unneeded goal for the pure sake of receiving a better seed in the playoffs?

A 1-0 result is just as valuable as a 4-0 result in my book. A win is a win—no more, no less.

The NAIA should spend less time in their formulas and spend more time investing to prepare human minds in making a qualified choice when it comes to a decision between CBU and PLNU.