2022 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 2022 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 28th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex, in Round Rock, Texas from Thursday, November 17 to Saturday, November 19, 2022. This was the second time the event was held here, the first being in 2019.

Overview

Men's championship

In the finals, the reigning back-back-back champions, BYU, were making their 10th finals appearance against finals debutants Minnesota. Prior to this, in the group stage, BYU would defeat Rutgers 6–0 then 2004 national champions, Texas A&M, 4–1 while Minnesota would defeat 2012 national champions, Michigan State, 3–0 then region II tournament runners-up, William & Mary, 4–0 to top their group.
In the knockout round, BYU would defeat 2008 national runners-up, Colorado State, 6–0 in the round of 16 then, in a rematch of the 2019 national championship game, would face Ohio State and beat them 3–0. Meanwhile, Minnesota would defeat region I tournament champion, UConn, 6–0 in the round of 16 then would beat 2015 national champion, North Carolina, 2–1 to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, in a rematch of last year's championship game, BYU would face Texas and would defeat them 4–1 to advance to their third straight finals while Minnesota would defeat UC-Davis 2–0 to advance to their first finals.
In the finals, with neither team trailing the entirety of the tournament, Minnesota would take an early lead with a goal from Samuel Yarmulnik in the first minute. They would hold this lead until Eric Morris of BYU leveled the game at 1–1 in the 67th minute. 2 minutes prior to the end of regulation, eventual MVP Thys Call of BYU would score what would be a game winner in a 2–1 victory for BYU, their 9th men's championship title and third consecutive. This was also their fourth title in the five iterations since they returned to NIRSA from the PDL.

Women's championship

In the finals, UConn would face 2011 runners-up Cal Poly. Prior to this, in the group stage, UConn would tie their opener 1–1 against region II tournament champion, Virginia, but a 1–0 win over Wisconsin would be enough to top their group. Meanwhile, Cal Poly would defeat Florida State 2–0 then would beat 2017 runners-up, Texas, 1–0 to also top their group.
In the knockout round, UConn would defeat UC-Davis 2–1 in the round of 16 then, after remaining deadlocked 1–1 after regulation and overtime would defeat 2005 national champion Michigan 5–4 in penalties to make their first semifinals. Meanwhile, Cal Poly would defeat Vanderbilt 1–0 in the round of 16 then would beat 2004 co-champion Colorado 2–1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, UConn would defeat Oregon 2–0 to advance to their first finals while Cal Poly would defeat 2019 champion, Ohio State, 2–1 to advance to their second finals.
In the finals, the game would remain deadlocked 0–0 at the end of regulation, meaning a 15-minute, golden-goal period would occur. Two minutes before the end of the overtime period, Bethany Love of Cal Poly would head a cross off of a corner kick past the eventual women's championship's most outstanding goalkeeper, Estelle Jarrett of UConn, to give Cal Poly their first women's national title. Fiona Plunkett of Cal Poly would be named the MVP of the women's championship division.

Men's open

In the finals, UCLA, who were making their 3rd finals appearance in the last 4 iterations of the competition, would face Miami of Ohio, who were making their first ever open finals appearance. UCLA, led by captain and eventual MVP Ciaran Hernon, would go on to dominate 3–0 and claim their second men's open title.

Women's open

In the finals, Kansas were looking to claim their first national title against one of the division's most successful teams, UCLA who, despite their success in previous tournaments, finished second in their group. The game would be tied 0–0 at halftime, but a second half goal would be enough for UCLA to join their male counterparts and claim a 2022 open title. This was their third open title in their history and meant they had tied the record for most championships in the women’s open division, going level with JMU who have also won 3 titles. UCLA would also see their own Alison Shea be named the MVP of the women's open division.

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 aired on on October 6, 2022 at 8am 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. 54 men's teams and 56 women's were selected.

Men's championship

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	Georgetown	1st	Never
II	JMU	4th	2021
II	Florida	14th	2019
III	Wisiconsin	7th	2021
III	Michigan State	13th	2019
VI	Weber State	15th	2015

Source:

Women's championship

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
II	Florida State	4th	2016
II	Georgia Tech	2nd	2021
III	Michigan	20th	2019
III	Ohio State	21st	2021
IV	Texas A&M	21st	2021
VI	UC-Davis	6th	2021

Sources:

Men's lottery selection

Region	Team	Selection Type	Bid result
I	UMass Amherst	Automatic
I	Babson	Automatic
I	Penn	Automatic
I	Cornell	Automatic
II	Tampa	Automatic
II	Virginia Tech	Automatic
II	Florida Gulf Coast	Automatic
II	VCU	Automatic
III	Cincinnati	Automatic
III	Miami	Automatic
III	Purdue	Automatic
IV	Kansas	Automatic
IV	LSU	Automatic
IV	Texas	Automatic
IV	Missouri	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
V	Iowa State	Automatic
V	Colorado College	Automatic
V	Utah Valley State	Automatic
V	Colorado	Automatic
V	Minnesota	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
VI	UC-Berkeley	Automatic
VI	Oregon	Automatic
VI	Cal Poly	Automatic
VI	UCLA	Automatic

Women's lottery selection

Region	Team	Selection Type	Bid result
I	Penn	Automatic
I	Vermont	Automatic
I	UMass Amherst	Automatic
I	Cornell	Automatic
II	Miami	Automatic
II	UCF	Automatic
II	Georgia Southern	Automatic
II	JMU	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
III	Notre Dame	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
III	Grand Valley State	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
III	Purdue	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
III	Illinois	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
IV	Arkansas	Automatic
IV	Kansas	Automatic
IV	Kansas State	Automatic
IV	Missouri	Automatic
V	Colorado	Automatic
V	Iowa State	Automatic
V	Northern Colorado	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
V	Colorado Mines	Waitlist	Accepted from waitlist
VI	UC-Berkeley	Automatic
VI	Arizona	Automatic
VI	Boise State	Automatic
VI	UCLA	Waitlist	Accepted from 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.
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

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Texas	2	2	0	0	8	5	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Wisconsin	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Colorado	2	0	0	2	3	6	−3	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Carolina	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Weber State	2	1	0	1	4	5	−1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Delaware	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0	Consolation

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UC-Davis	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Ohio State	2	0	2	0	3	3	0	2	Advanced to knockout stage
3	JMU	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Minnesota	2	2	0	0	7	0	+7	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Michigan State	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	1	Advanced to knockout stage
3	William & Mary	2	0	1	1	2	6	−4	1	Consolation

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Texas Tech	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UConn	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	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	Notre Dame	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Georgetown	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Clemson	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1	Consolation

Women's championship

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UConn	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Wisconsin	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2	3	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	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UC-Davis	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Boston College	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UC-Santa Barbara	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Wash U St. Louis	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Penn State	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1	Consolation

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

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cincinnati	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Virginia Tech	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Texas A&M	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	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	Minnesota	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Baylor	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0	Consolation

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oregon	2	1	1	0	8	3	+5	4	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Vanderbilt	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Colorado State	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6	0	Consolation

Notes:

Men's open

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cincinnati	3	3	0	0	14	3	+10'	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Cornell	3	1	1	1	9	6	+3	4
3	UC-Berkeley	3	1	1	1	12	6	+2'	4
4	Florida Gulf Coast	3	0	0	3	4	24	−15'	0

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oregon	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	LSU	3	2	0	1	5	6	−1	6
3	Penn	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Colorado "Black"	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UCLA	3	3	0	0	10	1	+8'	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Purdue	3	2	0	1	9	3	+6	6	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Colorado College	3	1	0	2	1	5	−4	3
4	Texas "B"	3	0	0	3	0	11	−10'	0

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Missouri	3	3	0	0	15	1	+13'	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	U Mass Amherst	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3
3	VCU	3	1	0	2	5	9	−4	3
4	Iowa State	3	1	0	2	3	11	−7	3

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cal Poly	3	3	0	0	6	1	+5	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Tampa	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6
3	Minnesota "B"	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Babson	3	0	0	3	2	6	−4	0

Women's open

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Purdue	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	U Mass Amherst	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
3	UC-Berkeley	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
4	Colorado Mines	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Notre Dame	3	3	0	0	7	3	+4	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	UCF	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6
3	Colorado "Black"	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3
4	Boise State	3	0	0	3	4	7	−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	UCLA	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Iowa State	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1
4	Kansas State	3	0	1	2	1	12	−9'	1

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Arkansas	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Penn	3	2	0	1	12	2	+7'	6	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Northern Colorado	3	0	2	1	2	6	−4	2
4	Georgia Southern	3	0	1	2	2	10	−5'	1

Notes:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Missouri	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Illinois	3	2	0	1	9	2	+7	6
3	Cornell	3	1	0	2	7	4	+1'	3
4	Miami	3	0	0	3	0	16	−14'	0

Notes:

All-tournament teams

Note: Only semifinalist players were eligible for selections

Key

MVP

Goalkeeper

Broadcasting

Championship finals were live streamed to