The 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 53rd year of organized men's

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

in the United States. The season was divided into three parts; the regular season, which started with early season tournaments against intraconference opponents, before the second half of the regular season that featured interconference matches. The regular season was held from late August to early November 2011. In mid-November, the conference tournaments were held, and from mid-November to mid-December, the NCAA Tournament was held. The national champion was the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

whom won the title against the

Charlotte 49ers The Charlotte 49ers are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina. The 49ers compete at the Nati ...

. It was North Carolina's third national championship, and Charlotte's first ever appearance in an NCAA final of any sport.

Season headlines

Throughout the course of the regular season, six different men's college soccer programs topped the

rankings A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

. The

Connecticut Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big Eas ...

were ranked first for four consecutive weeks, being the longest streak to do so in the season. At the end of the regular season, the

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999 ...

were the only college team in the nation to remain undefeated, winning 16 matches and only drawing twice.

Changes from 2010

Coaching changes

The following is a list of head coaching changes prior to the start of Division I men's soccer season.

Rule changes

Season overview

Pre-season polls

Several American soccer outlets posted their own preseason top 25 rankings of what were believed to be the strongest men's collegiate soccer teams entering 2011.

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Conference standings

;Key

Conference regular season and tournament winners

Thirty

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

s each end their

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

s with a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

. The teams in each conference that win their regular season title are given the number one seed in each tournament. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the

2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship The 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 48 teams to determine the champion of the 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The 53rd edition of the tournament began on November 17, 2011 and ...

. The

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

does not have a conference tournament, instead giving their automatic invitation to their regular-season champion.

Major upsets

In this list, a "major upset" is defined by a team that's ranked 10 or more spots lower, or an unranked team that defeats a team ranked #15 or higher.

Key matches

Statistical leaders

Overall

;Top scorers Last updated on December 23, 2011. Source
NCAA.com - Total Goals
/small> ;Most assists Last updated on December 23, 2011. Source
NCAA.com - Total Assists
/small>

Per match

NCAA tournament

College Cup – Hoover, Alabama

Award winners

NSCAA/Continental Tire Men's NCAA Division I All-America Team

On December 9, 2011, the

National Soccer Coaches Association of America The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of United States, American soccer Coach (sport), coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization i ...

released their All-American teams for the 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The list included a first, second and third team. ;First team ;Second team ;Third team

References

{{2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer First-Team All-America

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...