The

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 ...

held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, with eight teams selected for the tournament. Before 1959, national champions were selected by a committee of the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (ISFA) based on season records and competition. In addition, the College Soccer Bowl tournament was held from 1950–1952 (following the 1949–1951 seasons) for the purpose of deciding a national champion on the field. The Soccer Bowl was a one-site competition involving four teams selected by college soccer administrators. However, the ISFA committee continued to select the national champion in those three years (in 1950 selecting as champion a team that did not participate in the second Soccer Bowl).

History

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 ...

started in Northeast colleges and at private schools in the late 19th century, while club soccer was mostly played in the Midwest and the South. In the West, Stanford started up a soccer program in 1911, University of San Francisco in 1932, and UCLA in 1937, playing largely

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

teams. In 1945, at the end of the world war, the ISFA had only 22 member college teams. This grew to over 50 by 1947. From 1905 through 1925, the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League (an

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 ...

forerunner) determined an annual champion in

. The league was dissolved after the 1925 season when Harvard and Yale threatened to resign citing dissatisfaction with the organization and scheduling saying its took players away from their educational studies too frequently. The former league pledged to create a new representative soccer association that could help govern the sport at a collegiate level. Soon after the ''Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association'' was born offering an annual Outstanding Soccer Team award, the mythical national soccer championship, through 1935 and from 1946 through 1958.

Member Schools

ISFL / ISFA College Soccer National Champions

College champions were determined by various methods over the years as listed below. They are all considered unofficial. :1905–1925: Champion of the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League :1926–1935: Determined by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association :1936–1940: ''No selection by ISFA.'' Listed are outstanding teams that claim a share of the championship. :1941–1945: ''No selection by ISFA.'' Intercollegiate soccer was severely curtailed by

world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

. :1946–1958: Determined by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association :1949–1951: Seasons for which Soccer Bowl was played (two of these were played early the following year) : ^''(a)'' Soccer Bowl: Penn State tied San Francisco 2-2. : ^''(b)'' Soccer Bowl: Penn State defeated Purdue 3-1. : ^''(c)'' Soccer Bowl: Temple defeated San Francisco 2-0 : ''Sources:''

ISFL / ISFA Team Championship Records

References

{{Reflist

External links