2016 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 2016 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 23rd NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama from Thursday, November 17 to Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Overview

Men's championship

In the finals, 2014 champions, Ohio State, would face finals debutants Virginia. Prior to this, in the group stage, Ohio State would win their opener 2–1 over Utah State then beat North Texas 4–1 to top their group. Meanwhile, Virginia would win their opener 1–0 over Saint Louis to secure a spot in the knockout round but would drop the finale 1–0 to 2014 runner-up San Diego State to finish second in their group.
In the knockout round, Ohio State would defeat 2008 runner-up, Colorado State, 2–1 in the round of 16 then would defeat 2004 champion, Texas A&M, 3–0 in the quarterfinals while Virginia would defeat 2006 champions, Michigan, 1–0 in the round of 16 then would defeat Delaware 1–0 in the quarterfinals to make their first semifinals. In a rematch of the 2014 national championship game, Ohio State would defeat San Diego State, once again, by a score of 2–1 with a golden goal in overtime to make their second national title game in 3 years while Virginia would defeat Cincinnati 1–0 to make their first national championship game.
In the finals, eventual tournament MVP, Tyler Miller-Jones of Virginia, scored the game's first goal in the 11th minute but Ohio State would counter with a goal a minute later, tying the game at 1–1. In the 24th minute, Virginia would retake the lead from a goal by Tysen Tresness and then double their advantage right before halftime on a goal by Brian Leibowitz, and take their 3–1 advantage into halftime. Ohio State would score with 25 minutes left in the match but, despite a barrage of shots, eventual tournament most outstanding goalkeeper, Blake Ruzich of Virginia, wouldn't give up any more goals, giving Virginia their first national title with a 3–2 victory. This was the second year in a row a Region II team would claim the men's national title despite not winning any of the previous 21 iterations.

Women's championship

In the finals, six time national champion, UC-Santa Barbara, would face region II tournament champions, North Carolina, who were making their first finals appearance. Prior to this, in the group stage, UC-Santa Barbara would win their opener 2–0 over Florida State and would top their group despite a 0–0 draw against Illinois. Meanwhile, North Carolina would defeat Kansas 1–0 then defeat 2008 runners-up, Arizona, 5–1 to also top their group.
In the knockout round, UC-Santa Barbara would defeat Gonzaga 1–0 in the round of 16 then would defeat Texas A&M 2–0 to advance to the semifinals. Meanwhile, North Carolina would defeat Colorado Mines 2–0 in the round of 16 then would defeat UConn 3–0 in the quarterfinals to advance to their first semifinal since 1998. In the semifinals, in a rematch of the 2012 national championship, UC-Santa Barbara would face Michigan State. The game would remain deadlocked at 0–0 after regulation and extra time meaning, just like in 2012, penalties would be required to determine a winner. This time, however, UC-Santa Barbara would emerge victorious in the shootout with a score of 4–2 to advance to their first finals since that 2012 Michigan State game. Meanwhile, North Carolina would defeat 2014 national champion, Ohio State, 2–1 to advance to their first finals.
In the finals, eventual MVP Lindsay Ringman of UC-Santa Barbara opened the scoring in the 35th minute. Despite eight shots on goal from North Carolina, none were able to get past eventual most outstanding goalkeeper, Lauren Racioppi of UCSB, and UC-Santa Barbara would go on to win their 7th national title 1–0 and would not concede the entirer tournament.

Men's open

In the finals, last year's championship finalist Penn State would take on familiar face Oregon who were looking to defend their open title in their 4th open division finals. Penn State took the lead in the first half from eventual Tournament MVP Matthew Lundstrom, but midway through the second half, Oregon would equalize with a goal from Rikunosuke Kawashima. In the 70th minute, Robbie Edwards of Penn State would retake the lead off of a header, which was all that was needed for them to claim their first open division title in a 2–1 win.

Women's open

In the finals, Virginia Tech would face Oregon. Despite needing a seven-round PK shootout in the semifinals against defending champion UCLA, Virginia Tech dominated their first 3 games of the tournament by scoring 15 goals while only giving up 1. Oregon were also dominate by scoring 13 goals in their previous four games while only giving up 3. Virginia Tech started hot by scoring 2 goals in the first five minutes with the first coming from eventual MVP Emily Fitzsimmons. However, these were the only goals they would score, meaning when Meghan Schroeder of Oregon scored in the 66th minute, it was just a one goal game. Eventual Most Outstanding Goalkeeper Catherine McNicol of Virginia Tech would ensure that the two goals scored in the first five minutes would be enough, as Virginia Tech went on to win 2–1 for their second women's open national title.

Format

The competition consisted of 96 teams: 48 men's teams and 48 women's teams. Each of these divisions were further divided into two 24-team divisions: the championship and open. The championship division divided teams into eight groups of three while the open division divided teams into six groups of four, both engaging in a round-robin tournament that determined teams able to advance to a knockout stage.
Pool play games were two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime and utilized the three points for a win system. In the championship division, the two highest ranked teams from each group advanced to their knockout stage, with the third placed team advancing to a consolation bracket. In the open division, the top team from each group as well as the two best second placed teams advanced to their knockout stage.

Tie-breaking criteria for group play

The ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria in order:

Highest number of points
Winner of head-to-head competition
Greatest goal difference
* Maximum ± 5 goal difference per match
Most goals scored
Most shutouts

In a tie breaking scenario involving more than 2 teams, the tiebreaker procedure would begin. If one team is identified as different and both remaining teams are still tied, the tie breaker procedure is restarted.
If a tie still remained after the first 5 criteria, the following was used to break a tie:

NCAA kicks from the mark
* If there was a three-way tie, a coin-flip would be conducted. The two teams that chose the same outcome would compete in kicks from the mark between each other. The winner would compete with the last remaining team in kicks from the mark
* If there's a four-way tie, a drawing of lots would be conducted

Knockout stage games also consisted of two 40-minute halves. The round of 16 and quarterfinals were separated by a seven-minute halftime while the semifinals and finals had a ten minute halftime. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner. If a knockout-stage game was tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime consisted of one, 15-minute, golden-goal period. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.

Qualification and selections

Each of the six regions received three automatic bids for both the men's and women's championship that they awarded to its members. The final six bids are considered "at-large", and were given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on the regional tournament results and RPI.
The 48 remaining teams participated in the open division and were selected via a lottery draw that aired on on October 4, 2016 at 1pm PST. Any team with membership in a NIRSA-affiliated league or with a minimum of four games played prior to the tournament were able to enter their name into the lottery. If a selected team qualified for the championship division, an alternate would take their spot. 50 men's teams and 40 women's teams were selected.

Men's championship

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
II	Florida	10th	2014
II	Georgia Tech	3rd	2004
III	Michigan	13th	2015
III	Cincinnati	5th	2015
V	Colorado	15th	2013
VI	Stanford	1st	Never

Women's championship

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	Delaware	14th	2015
II	Florida State	3rd	2014
III	Ohio State	16th	2015
III	Wisconsin	1st	Never
VI	Cal Poly	6th	2015
VI	UC-San Diego	1st	Never

Men's open

Region	Team	Selection Type	Bid result
I	Penn State	Automatic	Accepted
I	SUNY Cortland	Automatic	Accepted
I	Boston College	Automatic	Accepted
I	Towson	Automatic	Accepted
I	George Mason	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
II	East Carolina	Automatic	Accepted
II	Miami	Automatic	Accepted
II	JMU	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
II	Georgia College	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
III	Miami	Invite
III	Purdue	Automatic	Accepted
III	Illinois	Automatic	Accepted
IV	Houston CC	Automatic	Accepted
IV	Texas	Automatic	Accepted
IV	St. Edwards	Automatic	Accepted
IV	LSU	Automatic	Accepted
IV	Arkansas	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
V	Iowa State	Automatic	Accepted
V	Colorado Springs	Automatic	Accepted
VI	Cal Poly	Invite
VI	Utah Valley State	Automatic	Accepted
VI	Cal State Fullerton	Automatic	Accepted
VI	UCLA	Automatic	Accepted
VI	Oregon	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist

Women's open

Region	Team	Selection Type	Bid result
I	Boston College	Automatic	Accepted
I	Vermont	Automatic	Accepted
I	George Mason	Automatic	Accepted
I	Penn	Automatic	Accepted
I	Cornell	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
II	West Virginia	Automatic	Accepted
II	Virginia Tech	Automatic	Accepted
II	Georgia Southern	Automatic	Accepted
II	Georgia Tech	Automatic	Accepted
II	Miami	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
II	JMU	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
III	Ohio	Automatic	Accepted
III	Iowa	Automatic	Accepted
IV	Houston CC	Automatic	Accepted
IV	Missouri	Automatic	Accepted
V	Iowa State	Automatic	Accepted
V	Northern Iowa	Automatic	Accepted
V	Denver	Automatic	Accepted
V	Air Force	Automatic	Accepted
V	Colorado	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
VI	USC	Automatic	Accepted
VI	Oregon	Automatic	Accepted
VI	UCLA	Automatic	Accepted
VI	San Diego State	Automatic	Accepted

Source:

Group stage

Men's championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Carolina	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Long Beach State	2	1	0	1	4	2	+2	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Colorado	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wisconsin	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Texas A&M	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Florida	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Michigan State	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Minnesota	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Georgia Tech	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Michigan	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Colorado Mines	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2	Advanced to knockout stage
3	UConn	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cincinnati	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Colorado State	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Tufts	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ohio State	2	2	0	0	6	2	+4	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Utah State	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	North Texas	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Diego State	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Virginia	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Saint Louis	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0	Consolation

Women's championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Michigan State	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Colorado Mines	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Delaware	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Carolina	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Kansas	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Arizona	2	0	1	1	4	8	−4	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Penn State	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Gonzaga	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Virginia	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ohio State	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Texas A&M	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Florida	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UConn	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Miami	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	UC San Diego	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colorado State	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Wisconsin	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Syracuse	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colorado – Gold	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Texas	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Cal Poly	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1	Consolation

Men's open

Notes:

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Penn State	3	2	0	1	3	4	−1	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Houston CC	3	2	0	1	9	3	+5	6	-
3	Illinois	3	1	1	1	7	5	+2	4	-
4	Miami	3	0	1	2	3	10	−6	1	-

Notes:

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Purdue	3	2	1	0	7	1	+6	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Cal Poly	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Towson	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3	-
4	LSU	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0	-

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	East Carolina	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Miami	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5	-
3	Boston College	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4	-
4	Cal State Fullerton	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1	-

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Utah Valley	3	3	0	0	14	0	+11	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	SUNY Cortland	3	2	0	1	4	6	−2	6	-
3	Texas	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3	-
4	Colorado Springs	3	0	0	3	1	12	−8	0	-

Notes:

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UCLA	3	3	0	0	9	2	+7	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Arkansas	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4	-
3	George Mason	3	1	1	1	5	7	−2	4	-
4	Georgia College	3	0	0	3	4	8	−4	0	-

----
----
----

Women's open

----
----
Notes:

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ohio	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Georgia Tech	3	2	0	1	5	1	+4	6	-
3	Vermont	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3	-
4	Colorado "Black"	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1	-

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Diego State	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Boston College	3	2	0	1	2	2	0	6	-
3	Air Force	3	1	1	1	5	1	+4	4	-
4	Miami	3	0	0	3	0	7	−7	0	-

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oregon	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	JMU	3	2	0	1	7	2	+5	6	Advanced to knockout stage
3	West Virginia	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1	-
4	Northern Iowa	3	0	1	2	0	9	−9	1	-

----
----

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Southern Cal	3	3	0	0	14	2	+12	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UCF	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6	-
3	Iowa State	3	1	0	2	5	10	−5	3	-
4	Penn	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0	-

----
----