The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 58th season of

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. ...

championship 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 ...

. The regular season began on August 26 and continued into the first weekend of November 2016. The season culminated with the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in December 2016. There were 206 teams in men's Division I competition. The defending champions were

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

who defeated Clemson 4–0 to win its first NCAA soccer title. The season concluded with Stanford defending its title by defeating Wake Forest 5–4 in a penalty kick shootout following a 0–0 double-overtime draw.

Changes from 2015

Coaching changes

New programs

Chicago State was initially budgeted to finally start competition in 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, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

this season. However, the ongoing State of Illinois budgetary crisis and the school's own critical financial problems have set this back once more.

Mount St. Mary's University Mount St. Mary's University is a private Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland, United States. It has the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. Undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Arts, the Richar ...

announced that their

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program, which has been dormant since the end of the 2012 season, will be reinstated for the 2018 season.

Discontinued programs

None.

Conference realignment

Video review

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved voluntary video review for the 2016 season. Video may be used to determine whether a goal has been scored, to identify players for disciplinary matters, and to determine whether a fight occurred and identify the participants. Use of video review in both men's and women's soccer is strictly voluntary, with coaches for both teams agreeing to its use before the game. The home team is responsible for the equipment and for making review possible either at the scorer's table or at another ground-level location. As in other NCAA sports, the video review must display indisputable evidence for a call to be overturned.

Proposed Division I season change

After many months of extended unofficial discussion, on August 22, 2016, NCAA Division I men's coaches and 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 ...

(NSCAA) officially began an "informational campaign" to build support for a proposed change of the playing schedule for Division I men's soccer. Under the proposed changes of the "Academic Year Season Model", the number of games on the Fall schedule and the number of mid-week games would be reduced, with games added in the Spring following a Winter break, and the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship tournament would be moved from November and December to May and June. In addition to more closely matching the professional season, the changes address issues of player health and safety and of the time demands on student-athletes. The proposal concerns only Division I men's soccer. While a large majority of men's coaches and players support the changes, only a small minority of women's coaches and players currently do so. At this time, there is only the "informational campaign" "...to educate our Athletic Directors, NCAA leadership, student athletes, coaches and fans on the advantages of this Academic Year Model,” said

Sasho Cirovski Sasho Cirovski (born 14 October 1962) is a Macedonian-Canadian soccer coach of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland. Born in Macedonia and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Cirovski led his University of Maryland, Col ...

, NSCAA D1 Men's committee chair and University of Maryland head coach. No formal proposal has been made to the NCAA, and once proposed, could not come into effect any earlier than the 2017–18 academic year.

Season overview

Pre-season polls

Regular season

#1

Conference standings

Major upsets

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

Early season tournaments

Several universities hosted early season soccer tournaments.

Conference winners and tournaments

Statistics

Individuals

Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 * NOTE: '' Niki Jackson of Grand Canyon was among the
national leaders in both Goals (16) and Total Points (34),
but his school was in its final year of transition from
Division II to Division I, making the school and its athletes
ineligible for consideration for statistical placement.'' * ''Individual statistics are through the games of 11 December 2016.''

Teams

Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 Last update on 13 December 2016 * ''Team statistics are through the games of 11 December 2016.'' * NOTE: ''UMass Lowell finished its season 13–1–2 (.875)
but was in its final year of transition from Division II to
Division I, making the school ineligible for consideration
for both statistical placement and postseason play.'' Last update on 13 December 2016

References

{{2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer First-Team All-America