The 2022 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 64th 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 K ...

. The season began in August 2022 and concluded in November. It culminated with the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, with the Men's College Cup held at

WakeMed Soccer Park WakeMed Soccer Park is a major soccer complex in Cary, North Carolina, United States. It consists of a purpose-built, soccer-specific main stadium called Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, two lighted practice fields, and four additional ...

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest muni ...

. Syracuse won the NCAA Championship by defeating

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

7-6 on penalty kicks following a 2-2-draw.

Changes from 2021

Rule changes

In April 2022, during a meeting among the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP), several major rule changes were enacted. This included overtime, expansion of

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee. The assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) is a current or former referee appointed to assist the VAR in the video ope ...

(VAR), and the appeals process of a suspension. Specifically

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

was abolished during the regular season. Matches that ended in a draw during a conference or national tournament match would go to extra time, consisting of two 10-minute periods without a

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

. A playoff game tied after two overtime periods would still move to a penalty kick shoot-out with the winner determined by the teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark. Additionally PROP approved VAR to be used for fouls that occurred outside of the

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. Wit ...

, as well as allowing a 48-hour period to appeal a red card decision.

Coaching changes

A total of 24 coaching changes took place during the 2021–22 offseason. One head coach announced his retirement after the 2021 season, but backed out of his retirement plan and was rehired by his program.

New programs

Two members of the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

Great Lakes Valley Conference The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its thirteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois ...

(GLVC) announced in February 2022 that they would reclassify to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

as new members of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

(OVC) effective that July. The first to announce was the

University of Southern Indiana The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...

on February 9.

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Charles, Missouri. Founded in 1827 by George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley as The Lindenwood School for Girls, it is the second-oldest higher-education institution west of the Mis ...

followed suit on February 23. With the OVC sponsoring soccer only for women, both schools entered into negotiations with 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 ...

, whose men's soccer league included established OVC member Eastern Illinois. The Summit accepted both Lindenwood and Southern Indiana as associate members on May 11. On May 22, 2022, the ASUN Conference announced that

Queens University of Charlotte The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has approximately 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students through the College of Arts and Sciences, the McColl School of Business, the Wayland H. Cato, ...

, then a member of the

South Atlantic Conference The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as a ...

, would begin its own transition to Division I and become the newest ASUN member. On April 5, 2022, Stonehill College announced that it had accepted an invitation to join 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 ...

and would begin the transition to Division I.

Discontinued programs

While no schools dropped men's soccer prior to the 2022 fall season, one conference discontinued its men's soccer league. Conference USA had nine men's soccer members in 2021, and had planned to add another such member for 2022, but lost all of them by the end of the 2021–22 school year. First, in April 2022, it was announced that five of its members (

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 ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

, and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

) would join the Sun Belt Conference for the fall 2022 season, as would

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, which had previously announced a planned move of men's soccer from the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

to C-USA. One month later, the remaining four members (

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, FIU, Florida Atlantic, and UAB) announced they would join the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

effective fall 2022. Of these last four schools, all but FIU are scheduled to fully join The American in 2023. The Hartford Hawks will transition to

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

. However, they continue to honor athletic scholarships previously awarded, and departed the

America East Conference The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research ...

to become a Division I independent for the 2022 season. The Hawks will join the D-III

Commonwealth Coast Conference The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Member institutions are located in New England in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, with a Connectic ...

in 2023.

Conference realignment

Twenty-seven schools joined new conferences or became independents, including four schools from Division II which started transitions to Division I this season and one that started a transition from Division I to

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 ...

in the 2021 season. Incarnate Word (UIW) was an affiliate member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for men's soccer in 2021. They had announced their intent to move their primary conference affiliation from the Southland Conference to the WAC, but on June 24, 2022 announced a reversal of course to retain the Southland Conference as their primary conference. There was no formal announcement that they would discontinue their affiliation with the WAC for men's soccer; however, they were removed from the WAC soccer schedule, and played an independent schedule in the 2022 season.

Other headlines

* November 10, 2021 --The Utah legislature approved the rebranding of Dixie State University to

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 ...

. The name change occurred in May 2022, with the change taking legal effect on July 1, 2022. The athletic nickname of Trailblazers was not affected. * August 12 – The

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

and

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

systems announced that

Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, commonly referred to as IUPUI, is a public research university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a collaboration between Indiana University and Purdue University that offers undergraduate, grad ...

will be dissolved in 2024 and replaced by separate IU- and Purdue-affiliated institutions. The current athletic program, the

IUPUI Jaguars The IUPUI Jaguars are the 18 intercollegiate teams that represent Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. They compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. On July 1, 2017, IUPU ...

, will transfer to the new IU Indianapolis. * August 31 – The Division I Board of Directors adopted a series of changes to transfer rules. ** Transfer windows were adopted for all Division I sports. Student-athletes who wish to be immediately eligible at their next school must enter the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool launched on October 15, 2018, to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member ...

within the designated period(s) for their sport. For men's soccer, two windows were established—a 45-day winter window starting the day after the NCAA tournament selections are announced, and a spring window from May 1–15. ** Student-athletes who experience head coaching changes, or those whose athletic aid is reduced, canceled, or not renewed, may transfer outside designated windows without penalty. ** Transferring student-athletes will be guaranteed their financial aid at their next school through graduation. * September 21 – Houston Baptist University announced it had changed its name to

Houston Christian University Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University, is a private Baptist university in Houston, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas ( Southern Baptist Convention). Its Cultural Arts Center ...

, effective immediately. The athletic nickname of

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

was not affected. * November 11 – The

(MAC) announced that it would no longer sponsor men's soccer after the 2022 season, citing its recent reductions in membership in that sport. Three of the four full MAC members that sponsor men's soccer—

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, and

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

—announced that day that they would become single-sport members of 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 ...

effective in 2023. * November 16 – 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 ...

announced that

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

, the last full MAC member that had yet to announce a men's soccer affiliation beyond 2022, would join Big East men's soccer effective with the 2023 season. At that time, the Big East, whose 11 full members all sponsor men's soccer, will split into divisions for that sport.

Season outlook

Preseason polls

United Soccer Coaches released their preseason poll on August 2, 2022. College Soccer News released their preseason poll on August 18, 2022. TopDrawer Soccer released their rankings on August 19, 2022.

Regular season

Major upsets

In this list, a "major upset" is defined as a game won by an unranked team that defeats a ranked team, or a team ranked 10 spots lower than the other 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.

Conference standings

Early season tournaments

Several universities hosted early season soccer tournaments.

Postseason

Conference winners and tournaments

Player statistics

Goals

Assists

Points

. ''Two points per a goal, and one point per an assist.''

Hat tricks

Awards and honors

TopDrawerSoccer.com Player/Team of the Week

*Bold denotes TDS Player of the Week.

All-America teams

Major player of the year awards

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 ...

: *

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 ...

: Duncan McGuire, Creighton

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 ...

Ian McIntyre Ian McIntyre (9 December 1931 – 19 April 2014) was a British BBC Radio producer, journalist, broadcaster and author. who was Controller of BBC Radio 4 from 1976 to 1978 and then Controller of BBC Radio 3 between 1978 and 1987. After joini ...

, Syracuse * Bill Jeffrey 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 ...

: Kristin Acquavella * Mike Berticelli Award: Felicity Day * NCAA Tournament MVP:Offensive: Nathan Opoku Defensive: Russell Shealy

Conference player and coaches of the year

References

{{2022 in American soccer