The Soccer Bowl was a championship match to determine the 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 ...

national champion prior to the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. The series was played from 1950 until 1952. The first two bowls were played at a neutral venue in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

while the third and final bowl was played in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Background

Association football, or soccer, had been played at the American collegiate level under association football codes since at least the late 1860s, with variations of a kicking game being played since the mid-1850s. Organized collegiate soccer did not formally occur in the United States until the arrival of the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League, which began during the 1904–05 season. The ISFL determined national championships for college programs from 1905 until 1925, and from 1926 until 1940 the

Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association The Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (abbreviated ISFA) was a sports governing body that ruled the practice of college soccer in the United States from 1905 to 1958. Before the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) held its ...

determined national champions. These championship titles were determined by a selection committee and were largely subjective. These championships are not formally recognized by the NCAA as legitimate national championship claims. Throughout World War II and into the late 1940s, the ISFL did not claim any national championships, although several college programs with undefeated records, or teams atop the

NSCAA 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 claimed national championships during this time, causing numerous programs to stake championship claims in the same year. After World War II, the ISFA began declaring national championships, which drew ire from programs that felt they deserved a national championship title, but were not considered by the ISFA committee. The goal of the Soccer Bowl was to take the highest ranked NSCAA and ISFA teams to have them play a one off match at a neutral venue. The concept of a neutral venue and titling the match as a "bowl" was heavy inspired and barrowed from the

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

system that college American football uses.

History

The first Soccer Bowl was played on January 1, 1950, to determine the champion of the 1949 ISFA season. At the end of the 1949 season, the ISFA declared Penn State and San Francisco dual national champions, and both programs agreed to play each other in St. Louis for the inaugural Soccer Bowl. The match ended in a 2-2 draw thanks to a late, and controversial, tying penalty kick in stoppage time. In December 1950, the second Soccer Bowl was held, determining the champion for the

1950 ISFA season Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 195 f ...

. The match was played between Penn State and Purdue, but much confusion around the legitimacy of the game surrounded and marred the bowl. San Francisco, repeating as the West Coast champion, was unable to make the trip to St. Louis. In an inexplicable decision, the second place team from the Midwest Conference, was sent to St. Louis (in place of conference champion Wheaton) to play the East Coast champion, Penn State in the Soccer Bowl. Penn State won the Bowl 3-1, but this left unclear the question of who was really best, since San Francisco was never matched against them. Furthermore, West Chester stake a claim as national champion which further added to the confusion, raising serious questions about the bowl's viability.

Finals

;Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soccer Bowl (1950-52) 1949 establishments in the United States 1952 disestablishments in the United States

Background

History

Finals

See also

References