2019 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 2019 'NIRSA national soccer championship' was the 26th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at Round Rock Multipurpose Complex, in Round Rock, Texas from Thursday, November 21 to Saturday, November 23, 2019.

Overview

Men's championship

In the finals, the division's most successful team and [2017 National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association|NIRSA National Soccer Championship|2017 tournament] champion, BYU, returned to the finals to face 2014 champions Ohio State, with both teams being eliminated by eventual champions Florida in the previous tournament.
Coming into the finals, BYU drew their opening match to 2004 champions Texas A&M 1–1, but would defeat Iowa State 5–0 to top their group. Meanwhile, Ohio State would win both group stage games 1–0, first against four time runners-up, Texas Tech, and then against Drexel. In the knockout round, BYU would defeat Drexel in the round of 16 by a score of 2–0 then would defeat 2006 tournament champion, Michigan, 3–0 in the quarterfinals to advance past where they did the previous season. Meanwhile, Ohio State would defeat Texas A&M 3–1 in the round of 16, then would defeat 2017 runners-up, Cal Poly, 2–1 in the quarterfinals to advance to their second straight semifinals. In the semifinals, BYU would defeat 2015 champions, North Carolina, 3–0 to advance to their second title in 3 years while Ohio State would defeat Delaware 1–0 to make their third national final.
In the finals, Ohio State would open the scoring on a goal from Luke Keiser in the 7th minute, but BYU would counter with a penalty kick goal from eventual tournament MVP Christian Baines in the 14th minute to even the score and would then take the lead from on a goal from Jake Ence in the 25th minute. The game remained at 2–1 until BYU sealed the win with a goal in the last minute by Michael Anderson leading BYU to their 7th national championship. This was BYU's second title in their three seasons back since leaving the USL League 2 in 2017.

Women's championship

In the finals, reigning champions, Ohio State, returned to the finals to face finals debutants Boston College. Prior to this, in the group stage, Ohio State won their opener 2–0 against Cornell then defeated Kansas 4–1 to top their group while Boston College defeated UCLA 1–0 then Wisconsin 2–0 to also top their group.
In the knockout round, Ohio State would win their round of 16 matchup against reigning semifinalists, Illinois, 2–0 to advance to their fourth straight quarterfinals then defeated 2005 champions, Michigan, 2–0 in the quarterfinals to advance to their 3rd semifinals in the last four seasons. Meanwhile, Boston College would be deadlocked 1–1 against Grand Valley in the round of 16 after regulation and overtime meaning penalty kicks would be required. Boston College would win 7–6 in penalties to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time where they'd face 2004 co-champion and 2015 runners-up, Colorado State, who they would defeat 1–0. In the semifinals, Ohio State would defeat UCLA 3–0 to advance to their second-straight finals while Boston College would defeat four-time champion and 2004 co-champion, Colorado, 1–0 in overtime following a deadlocked regulation period.
In the finals, Ohio State opened the scoring with a goal by Emma Ruck in the 26th minute off of a cross from a free kick at midfield, but Boston College's Celia Frei scored a free kick on the edge of the box in the 28th minute to tie the game at 1–1. Ohio State would retake the lead in the 36th minute from Kiley Maxwell via an Olympico, otherwise known as scoring directly from a corner kick. This would be enough for Ohio State to claim a 2–1 victory and the national title, their third national title and second straight. This win made them only the second women's team to go back-to-back outright, with the only other team being UC-Santa Barbara. Ohio State's Amy King would go on to be named tournament MVP.

Men's open

In the finals, one of the reigning co-champions, UCLA, were looking to claim its first outright title over finals debutants Purdue. Coming into the finals, UCLA tied their opening match 1–1 against Kansas but would win their next four, including against the division's most successful team, JMU, in the semifinals. Meanwhile, after winning their first two matches, Purdue would tie their group stage finale 1–1 against Cal State San Marcos then win their quarterfinal matchup against Cornell 1–0 and their semifinal matchup against Virginia Tech 4–2. In the finals, Purdue would shutout UCLA in a 2–0 victory and claim their first open title. Despite losing the match, UCLA's Markus Raad would be named men's open MVP.

Women's open

In the finals, 2017 women's open champion, Oregon, would face 2008 women's open runners-up East Carolina. Coming into the finals, Oregon would tie their first two group stage games, but would win their group stage finale 5–0 to secure first place in the group. They would then beat Air Force 2–0 in the quarterfinals and UC-Berkeley 2–1 in the semifinals. Meanwhile, East Carolina tied their second group stage game to Missouri 1–1, but would win their other four games, including against two-time women's championship title winners, Miami, in their group stage opener and the previous tournament's women's open champions, San Diego State, 1–0 in the semifinals. In the finals, Oregon would shutout UCLA and go on to win 2–0, securing their second women's open title. Oregon's Gabrielle Traylor would be named women's open MVP

Unified Division

This tournament marked the inaugural season of the Unified Division comprising teams of athletes from Special Olympic programs and partners that compete alongside them. This division brought 3 teams that each played each other once to determine seeds for the knockout round, with the first placed team getting a bye. After gaining the 1 seed on the goals-for tiebreaker, Tampa went on to win the first United Division championship against NIU 6–2. NIU's Rufus Smith-Jones would be named Unified MVP.

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 receives three automatic bids for both the men's and women's championship that they award to its members. The final six bids are considered "at-large", and are given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on the regional tournament results and RPI.
The 48 remaining teams participating in the open division were selected via a lottery draw that took place at 8:00am PST on October 4, 2019 via . 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. 54 men's teams and 56 women's were selected.

Men's championship

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
III	Michigan State	12th	2018
IV	Texas A&M	19th	2017
IV	Texas Tech	9th	2018
V	Colorado State	21st	2018
VI	UC-Santa Barbara	11th	2017
VI	Minnesota	15th	2017

Source:

Women's championship

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	The College of New Jersey	5th	2018
II	North Carolina	16th	2018
III	Grand Valley State	1st	Never
III	Ohio State	19th	2018
VI	UCLA	7th	2013
VI	USC	3rd	2014

Source:

Men's lottery selection

Region	Team	Selection Type	Bid result
I	Penn	Automatic
I	Towson	Automatic
I	Vermont	Automatic
I	Cornell	Automatic
I	SUNY Cortland	Waitlist
II	Miami	Automatic
II	JMU	Automatic
II	Georgia Highlands	Waitlist
II	Virginia Tech	Waitlist
III	Xavier	Automatic
III	Ohio U	Automatic
III	Grand Valley State	Automatic
III	Purdue	Automatic
IV	St. Edwards	Automatic
IV	Kansas	Automatic
IV	LSU	Automatic
IV	Missouri	Invite
V	Colorado College	Automatic
V	Minnesota	Waitlist
VI	Cal State San Marcos	Automatic
VI	Arizona	Automatic
VI	Utah Valley	Automatic
VI	UCLA	Automatic
VI	Cal State Fullerton	Waitlist

Women's lottery selection

Region	Team	Selection Type	Bid result
I	Boston College	Automatic
I	UMass Amherst	Automatic
I	Vermont	Automatic
I	Penn	Waitlist
I	Penn State	Waitlist
II	Georgia Southern	Automatic
II	East Carolina	Waitlist
II	Kennesaw State	Waitlist
III	Miami	Automatic
III	Notre Dame	Automatic
III	Iowa	Automatic
III	Central Michigan	Invite
IV	St. Edwards	Automatic
IV	Texas A&M – Galveston	Automatic
IV	Missouri	Automatic
IV	Texas Tech	Invite
V	Colorado "Black"	Automatic
V	Iowa State	Automatic
V	Northern Colorado	Automatic
V	Air Force	Waitlist
VI	San Diego State	Automatic
VI	Oregon	Automatic
VI	Western Oregon	Automatic
VI	UC-Berkeley	Waitlist

Source:

Group stage

Results from pool play from all 4 divisions:

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 as normal. If one team is identified as different and both remaining teams are still tied, the tie breaker procedure is restarted with the two teams that were still tied.
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

Men's championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wisconsin	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UC-Santa Barbara	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Colorado Mines	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0	Consolation

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Carolina	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Delaware	2	0	2	0	3	3	0	2	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Minnesota	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	BYU	2	1	1	0	6	1	+5	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Texas A&M	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Iowa State	2	0	1	1	0	5	−5	1	Consolation

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

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	Florida	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Tufts	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Southern Cal	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Colorado	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Arkansas	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cal Poly	2	2	0	0	6	2	+4	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Florida State	2	1	0	1	6	5	+1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Texas Southmost	2	0	0	2	3	8	−5	0	Consolation

Women's Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Clemson	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Grand Valley	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	UConn	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Boston College	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UCLA	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Wisconsin	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colorado	2	1	1	0	4	0	+4	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Illinois	2	1	1	0	4	2	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
3	The College of New Jersey	2	0	0	2	2	8	−6	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UC-Santa Barbara	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Virginia Tech	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Rice	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5	0	Consolation

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Texas	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Southern Cal	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Minnesota	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Michigan	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	James Madison	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Gonzaga	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	Consolation

Men's open

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Arizona	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Missouri	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4	-
3	Towson	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	4	-
4	Ohio	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3	-

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UCLA	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Kansas	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5	-
3	Grand Valley	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4	-
4	Vermont	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0	-

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Purdue	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Cal State San Marcos	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	-
3	SUNY Cortland	3	1	0	2	5	8	−3	3	-
4	Miami	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0	-

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	JMU	3	2	1	0	10	2	+6	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Cornell	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Cal State Fullerton	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3
4	St. Edward's	3	0	0	3	3	13	−9	0

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Virginia Tech	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Penn	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	Advanced to knockout stage
3	LSU	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3
4	Colorado College	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

Women's open

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iowa State	3	2	1	0	8	0	+8	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Vermont	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Western Oregon	3	1	0	2	2	6	−4	3
4	Central Michigan	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oregon	3	1	2	0	6	1	+5	5	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UMass Amherst	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5	-
3	Notre Dame	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2	4	-
4	Texas Tech	3	0	1	2	3	11	−8	1	-

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	East Carolina	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Miami	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6	-
3	Northern Colorado	3	1	0	2	1	5	−4	3	-
4	Missouri	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1	-

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Air Force	3	2	1	0	11	1	+7	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Penn State	3	2	1	0	6	0	+6	7	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Kennesaw State	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1	-
4	Texas A&M Galveston	3	0	1	2	1	13	−9	1	-

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UC-Berkeley	3	3	0	0	11	0	+8	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Colorado "Black"	3	2	0	1	5	1	+4	6	-
3	Boston University	3	1	0	2	2	10	−5	3	-
4	Georgia Southern	3	0	0	3	0	7	−7	0	-

2019 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

Overview

Men's championship

Women's championship

Men's open

Women's open

Unified Division

Format

Qualification and selections

Men's championship

Women's championship

Men's lottery selection

Women's lottery selection

Group stage

Men's championship

Women's Championship

Men's open

Women's open

Unified

Tournament bracket

Men's championship

Men's consolation

Women's championship

Women's consolation

Men's open

Broadcasting