The 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 62nd season of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

championship men's

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28, 2020 and conclude on November 15, 2020. The season was to culminate with the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, which was to be held from November 18 to December 13, 2020, with the four-team College Cup at Meredith Field at

Harder Stadium Harder Stadium is a 17,000-seat, outdoor multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California. It serves as the on-campus soccer stadium for ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. On August 13, 2020, the NCAA Tournament was suspended due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Leading up to the postseason tournament suspension, some conferences had planned to play conference-only matches during the fall season, while some conferences opted to postpone the season to Spring 2021 (February to May 2021). Ultimately, the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

and the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

began play for the 2020 fall season; while a handful of programs scheduled competitive fixtures for the fall 2020 season: Army, Kentucky, Mercer, Navy, South Carolina, and UAB. On September 16, 2020 the NCAA announced that the spring season would run from February 3 to April 17, 2021, culminating with the NCAA Tournament, which was reduced from 48 to 36 teams for this season only. The postponed NCAA Tournament began on April 30 and ended on May 17, 2021. The ACC and Sun Belt champions, which were determined in November, earned automatic bids into the tournament. Nevertheless, the fall season began with Notre Dame beating Kentucky, 1–0, on September 17, 2020. On March 24, 2021, the NCAA announced that the entirety of the men's and women's tournament would be consolidated, with all 36 men's teams and 48 women's teams playing all games in Cary, North Carolina and its vicinity during the period from April 27–May 17.

Changes from 2019

Coaching changes

New programs

On November 27, 2017, it was announced that, in 2020, the Tritons of the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, located in the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

district of

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

. On January 11, 2019, it was announced that the Trailblazers of Dixie State University, now known as

Utah Tech University Utah Tech University (UT), formerly known as Dixie State University (DSU) and similar names, is a public university in St. George, Utah. The university offers about 240 programs (4 master's degrees, 53 bachelor's degrees, 18 associate degrees, 4 ...

, of

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC). On June 17, 2019, it was announced that the

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

Bellarmine University Bellarmine University (BU; ) is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named after Saint Rober ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the ASUN Conference.

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

announced on June 23, 2020 that it would begin men's soccer effective immediately. The school had first committed to adding the sport when joining the Western Athletic Conference in 2014, and it budgeted for a team in 2016, but the school did not then begin play due to financial challenges and seriously discussed leaving Division I. The decision to finally add men's soccer came at the same time the school dropped baseball due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The

Cougars The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

will play in their full-time home of the WAC but will not begin conference play until 2021. On July 15, 2020, after months of consideration, the NCAA granted the highly unusual request of the

University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...

to move directly from

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

to Division I. The school had already accepted an invitation to join the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

, and the Tommies will enter Division I and Summit League competition in 2021.

Discontinued programs

On November 20, 2019, Valparaiso announced that the men's soccer and tennis teams would be eliminated to allow greater attention to the school's other sports teams. On April 14, 2020,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

announced that, due to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the men's soccer program would be discontinued effective immediately. On May 26, 2020, Appalachian State, a Division I men's soccer power in the late 1970s, cut the men's soccer program and two other men's programs in response to the financial impact of COVID-19.

Conference realignment

Other changes

In June 2020, the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

and SIU Edwardsville jointly announced that SIUE men's soccer would leave the Mid-American Conference and return to the MVC effective with the 2021 season. While restoring the MVC to six teams, the move then reduced the MAC to only five teams. The Sun Belt Conference had begun the 2020–21 school year with five men's soccer members, but by the start of the spring 2021 season, two were confirmed to be departing that July for conferences that sponsor men's soccer. On July 6, 2020,

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

announced that it would become an associate member of the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

(NEC) in six sports no later than July 2021. Two sports joined the NEC for the 2020–21 school year, while the remaining four, including men's soccer, will join in July 2021. Then, on January 29, 2021, the ASUN Conference officially announced three schools as incoming full members, including Sun Belt men's soccer associate member

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

. With the Sun Belt men's soccer league by that time all but certain to disband after the 2020–21 school year,

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(C-USA) and

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

jointly announced on February 25 that the Chanticleers would become men's soccer members of the league effective with the fall 2021 season. The end of Sun Belt men's soccer was confirmed on May 21 when the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

announced that the last two Sun Belt men's soccer members,

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

and

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

, would join the MAC for the fall 2021 season. This move also restored the MAC men's soccer league to seven teams.

Season outlook

Preseason polls

NOTE: ''College Soccer News'' released its pre-season poll before the NCAA moved the season to the Spring semester. The ACC and the Sun Belt and some other teams played son Fall games, and the Ivy League cancelled its season. Before the Spring season got underway, ''College Soccer News'' conducted a new poll and published a new Top 30. The new poll is to the right of the older one.

Impact of COVID-19 on season

For the 2020 season, several changes in how the season began, and how conference play was organized affected the 2020 season. * The Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from eight teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination. * The

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

divided into two divisions, the "East" and "Midwest" divisions to minimize travel and to regionalize conference play. * The Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from six teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination. * The

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and ...

announced that the men's soccer season will begin on September 11, rather than August 28. * The

discontinued its men's soccer tournament. All teams will play each other home-and-home. * The Southern Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from six teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination. * On July 8, the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

cancelled all intercollegiate sports for the 2020 Fall semester; this includes both men's and women's soccer. * On July 10, the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

s announced all teams will play the 2020 season with conference-only matches * On July 13, the Patriot League announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer would be cancelled. * On July 17, the Atlantic 10 Conference announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed to spring 2021. * On August 13, the

announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed to spring 2021. However, the league is allowing nonconference games. * On August 13, the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

announced that conference competition in all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be suspended through the end of the calendar year. * On August 14, the ASUN Conference announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed with the intent to hold them in the spring 2021. * On August 15, the NCAA suspended the men's soccer championship for the fall season, with the possibility of being played in winter or spring 2021 * On August 27, three conferences confirmed to play in the fall, with individual programs allowed to play games in the fall. The ACC and the Sun Belt played in fall 2020. * On October 15, the ASUN announced that it would split into North and South Divisions for the spring 2021 season only. Conference standings, and with them seeding in the conference tournament, were based exclusively on results within each division.

Fall 2020 season

Standings

Rankings

Top-ranked team

Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week

* Bold denotes TDS player of the week.

Major upsets

In this list, a "major upset" is defined as a game won by an unranked team that defeats a ranked team. All rankings are from the

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

Poll.

Fall postseason

Conference winners and tournaments

Spring 2021 season

Standings

Note: ''W-L-T records are through the Finals of the NCAA Tournament.''

Rankings

Top-ranked team

Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week

* Bold denotes TDS player of the week.

Spring postseason

Conference winners and tournaments

Postseason awards

Hermann Trophy

The

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

is given to the year's most outstanding player. The finalists were announced on May 21. On May 27, 2021, Gloire Amanda of Oregon State won the Hermann Trophy. * Glorie Amanda – Oregon State * Victor Bezerra – Indiana * Valentin Noël – Pitt

TDS National Player of the Year

The

TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year Award TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American association football, soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States ...

recognizes the top college soccer player in the nation by the TDS staff. On May 25, 2021, Veljko Petkovic of Pitt won the award. * Veljko Petković – Pitt

Senior CLASS Award

* The Senior CLASS Award is presented each year to the most outstanding senior in NCAA Division I. Thomas M'Barek of Cleveland State won the award. The following finalists were: ** Jacob Graiber (DF), UIC ** Justin Malou (DF), Clemson ** Thomas M'Barek (DF), Cleveland State **

Jacob Montes Jacob Christian Montes (born October 20, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Botafogo. Club career Portland Timbers Montes began his career with the FC Florida Prep Academy, whose alumni includes Juli ...

(MF), Georgetown ** Yannik Oettl (GK), UCF ** George Proctor (DF), Georgia State ** Tor Saunders (GK), Coastal Carolina ** Chris Sullivan (MF), Bowling Green **Joel Walker (FW), Oregon State **

Marc Ybarra Marc Ybarra (born December 18, 1998) is an American soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder for Rhode Island FC in the USL Championship. College & Amateur career Ybarra attended Ann Arbor Skyline, but never played high school soccer ...

(MF), Michigan

All-Americans

Conference player and coaches of the year

Other major awards

United Soccer Coaches College Coach of the Year The United Soccer Coaches College Coach of the Year is an award given by the United Soccer Coaches ''(formerly National Soccer Coaches Association of America SCAA'' to one men's and one women's NCAA Division I collegiate coach each. The men's award ...

: Chris Grassie, Marshall * Bill Jeffrey Award: * Glenn Myernick Award: *

Jerry Yeagley Award The Jerry Yeagley Award (Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Service Award) is an award given to a former college soccer player, either men's or women's, that has demonstrated exceptional personal achievements either on or off the soccer ...

: Raymon Gaddis * Mike Berticelli Award: Neil Hull * NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament Most Outstanding Player: ** Offensive: Jamil Roberts, Marshall ** Defensive:

Roman Celentano Roman Celentano (born September 14, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club FC Cincinnati. Early life Roman Celentano was born on September 14, 2000, to Marcello and Manuela Ce ...

, Indiana * TopDrawerSoccer.com National Freshman of the Year Award: Bertin Jacquesson, Pitt

Final rankings

Statistics

Individual statistics

* ''Individual statistics are through the games of April 17, 2021''

References

{{2020 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer First-Team All-America

NCAA Division I men's soccer season

Changes from 2019

Coaching changes

New programs

Discontinued programs

Conference realignment

Other changes

Season outlook

Preseason polls

Impact of COVID-19 on season

Fall 2020 season

Standings

Rankings

Top-ranked team

Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week

Major upsets

Fall postseason

Conference winners and tournaments

Spring 2021 season

Standings

Rankings

Top-ranked team

Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week

Spring postseason

Conference winners and tournaments

Postseason awards

Hermann Trophy

TDS National Player of the Year

Senior CLASS Award

All-Americans

Conference player and coaches of the year

Other major awards

Final rankings

Statistics

Individual statistics

See also

References