The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament (also known as the 2016 College Cup) was the 58th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion 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. ...

Division I men's collegiate soccer. The first, second, third, and quarterfinal rounds were held at college campus sites across the

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during November and December 2016, with host sites determined by seeding and record. The four-team College Cup finals was played at

BBVA Compass Stadium Shell Energy Stadium is an American multi-purpose stadium located in Houston, Texas, that is home to Houston Dynamo FC, a Major League Soccer club and the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League and was the first soccer specific ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

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on December 9 and 11, 2016. The

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

successfully defended their 2015 title. Stanford played 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 ...

to a scoreless draw in the semifinals before winning a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, 10–9, to advance to the Championship game. The Cardinal then also tied the

Wake Forest Demon Deacons The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

, 0–0, in the final before claiming the back-to-back title with another penalty shootout victory, 5–4. Stanford tied the NCAA record for the Lowest Goals-Against Average in the Tournament (Minimum 3 Games) of 0.00 by becoming the fourth team to not allow their opponents to score a goal in the tournament. The other three co-record-holders are the 1976

San Francisco Dons The San Francisco Dons is the nickname of the athletic teams at the University of San Francisco (USF). The Dons compete in NCAA Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC), of ...

, the 1995

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

, and the 2009

Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...

Qualification

All Division I men's soccer programs except for

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, Incarnate Word, and

UMass Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a Public university, public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of M ...

will be eligible to qualify for the tournament. Those three programs are ineligible because they are in transition from Division II to Division I. The tournament field remains fixed at 48 teams. Of the 24 schools that had previously won the championship, 13 qualified for this year's tournament.

Format

As in previous editions of the NCAA Division I Tournament, the tournament features 48 participants out of a possible field of 203 teams. Of the 48 berths, 24 are allocated to the 21 conference tournament champions and to the regular season winners of the Ivy League, Pac-12 Conference, and West Coast Conference, which do not have tournaments. The remaining 24 berths are supposed to be determined through an at-large process based upon the

Ratings Percentage Index The rating percentage index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule. It is one of the sports rating systems by which NCAA basketball, baseball, softball, ...

(RPI) of teams that did not automatically qualify. The NCAA Selection Committee also names the top sixteen seeds for the tournament, with those teams receiving an automatic bye into the second round of the tournament. The remaining 32 teams play in a single-elimination match in the first round of the tournament for the right to play a seeded team in the second round.

Schedule

Bracket

Regional 1

Regional 2

Regional 3

Regional 4

2016 College Cup

Results

First round

Second round

Third round

Quarterfinals

College Cup

Semifinals

national championship

Statistics

Goalscorers

;4 goals * Julian Gressel — Providence ;3 goals * Alex Happi — Clemson * Foster Langsdorf — Stanford * Brian Wright — Vermont * Nico Quashie — Virginia Tech * Jon Bakero — Wake Forest ;2 goals * Nick Hinds — Akron * Austen Burnikel — Clemson * Kortne Ford — Denver * Andre Shinyashiki — Denver * Albert Ruiz — Florida Gulf Coast * Tate Schmitt — Louisville * Amar Sejdič — Maryland * Tucker Hume — North Carolina * Jon Gallagher — Notre Dame *

Sergio Camargo Sergio Andres Camargo Peñaranda (born August 16, 1994) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Cavalry FC in the Canadian Premier League. Club career Toronto FC In 2009, Camargo went on trial with Vitória de G ...

— Syracuse * Abu Danladi — UCLA * Marcelo Acuña — Virginia Tech * Ema Twumasi — Wake Forest ;1 goal * Carlos Clark — Albany * Bernardo Mattos — Albany * Afonso Pinheiro — Albany * Nicolás Solabarrieta — Albany *

Zeiko Lewis Zeiko Troy Jahmiko Lewis (born 4 June 1994) is a Bermudian footballer who plays for USL League One side Union Omaha and the Bermuda national team. Career Youth and college Lewis was born in Spanish Point, Bermuda, where he was raised by h ...

— Boston College * Brandt Bronico — Charlotte * Daniel Bruce — Charlotte * Einar Einarsson — Coastal Carolina *

Frantzdy Pierrot Frantzdy Pierrot (born 29 March 1995) is a Haitian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club AEK Athens and the Haiti national team. Club career College and amateur Pierrot played two years of college socce ...

— Coastal Carolina * Zach Pagani — Colgate * Bruno Scodari — Colgate * Myles Englis — Creighton * Mitch LaGro — Creighton * Ricky Lopez-Espin — Creighton * Ricardo Perez — Creighton * Joel Rydstrand — Creighton * Karim Sawaf — Creighton * Matt Danilack — Dartmouth * Chandler Crosswait — Denver * Scott DeVoss — Denver * Alex Underwood — Denver * Robert Ferrer — Florida Gulf Coast * Justin Gavin — Florida Gulf Coast * Grant Lillard — Indiana * Billy McConnell — Indiana * Kevin Barajas — Kentucky * J. J. Williams — Kentucky * Cherif Dieye — Louisville * Jack Gayton — Louisville * Mohamed Thiaw — Louisville * Kevin Engesser — Loyola-Chicago * Alec Lasinski — Loyola-Chicago *

Gordon Wild Gordon Wild (born 16 October 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a left winger. College career Wild played one year of college soccer at University of South Carolina Upstate in 2015, before moving to the University of Maryland ...

— Maryland *

Eryk Williamson Eryk Tyrek Williamson (born June 11, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Charlotte FC. Early career Williamson attended the University of Maryland, where he played in the 2015� ...

— Maryland * Michael Marcantognini — Michigan State * Patrick Khouri — New Mexico * Nils Bruening — North Carolina * Jeremy Kelly — North Carolina * Drew Murphy — North Carolina * Tariq Branche — Pacific * Danny Griffin — Providence * Steven Kilday — Providence * Brendan Reardon — Providence * Nick Sailor — Providence * João Serrano — Providence * Fraser Colmer — Radford * Arthur Herpreck — Rider * A. J. Vergara — San Diego State * Tomas Hilliard-Arce — Stanford * Sam Werner — Stanford *

Austin Ledbetter Austin Ledbetter (born July 15, 1995) is an American retired soccer player who last played for Phoenix Rising FC in the USL Championship. Career Early career A resident of St. Charles, Missouri, Ledbetter attended Christian Brothers College Hig ...

— SIU Edwardsville * Keegan McHugh — SIU Edwardsville * Kevin Walker — South Carolina * Marcus Epps — South Florida * Lindo Mfeka — South Florida *

Chris Nanco Christopher Lenroy Nanco (born February 15, 1995) is a Canadian former professional association football, soccer player. He played as a Forward (association football), forward. Early life He began playing youth soccer with Brampton Youth SC. At a ...

— Syracuse * José Hernández — UCLA * Kike Poleo — UCLA * Willie Raygoza — UCLA * Adam Musovski — UNLV * Jon Arnar Barðdal — Vermont * Stefan Lamanna — Vermont * Pablo Aguilar — Virginia * Paddy Foss — Virginia * Brendan Moyers — Virginia Tech * Forrest White — Virginia Tech * Luis Argudo — Wake Forest *

Ian Harkes Ian Andrew Harkes (born March 30, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes. He previously played for Dundee United F.C. in The Scottish Championship and The Scotti ...

— Wake Forest * Jacori Hayes — Wake Forest * Beau Blanchard — Washington * Scott Menzies — Washington * Elijah Rice — Washington * Justin Schmidt — Washington * Steven Wright — Washington ;Own goals * Tanner Dieterich — Clemson (playing against South Carolina) * Kaelon Fox — Kentucky (playing against Creighton)

Notes

References

{{2016 in American soccer

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament seasons NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament