2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament

2016 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament

College Cup
Country	United States
Dates	November 17 – December 11, 2016
Teams	48
Champions	Stanford Cardinal
Runners-up	Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Semi-finalists	Denver Pioneers North Carolina Tar Heels
Matches played	47
Goals scored	121 (2.57 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Julian Gressel (4)
Best player	Offensive: Ian Harkes Defensive: Andrew Epstein
← 2015 2017 → All statistics correct as of December 3, 2016.

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 Division I men's collegiate soccer. The first, second, third, and quarterfinal rounds were held at college campus sites across the United States 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 in Houston, Texas on December 9 and 11, 2016.^[1]

The Stanford Cardinal successfully defended their 2015 title. Stanford played the North Carolina Tar Heels to a scoreless draw in the semifinals before winning a penalty shootout, 10–9, to advance to the Championship game.^[2] The Cardinal then also tied the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 0–0, in the final before claiming the back-to-back title with another penalty shootout victory, 5–4.^[3]

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 1995 Wisconsin Badgers, and the 2009 Akron Zips.^[4]

Qualification[]

All Division I men's soccer programs except for Grand Canyon, Incarnate Word, and UMass Lowell 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 (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.

Seeded teams
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	NSCAA Ranking[5]	RPI Ranking[6]
1	Maryland	Big Ten	18–0–2	Tournament Champion	1	1
2	Wake Forest	ACC	15–2–3	Tournament Champion	2	3
3	Clemson	ACC	13–3–4	At Large	3	2
4	Louisville	ACC	12–5–2	At Large	9	6
5	Stanford	PAC-12	11–3–4	Conference Champion	8	5
6	Denver	Summit	17–0–3	Tournament Champion	4	7
7	Indiana	Big Ten	11–1–7	At Large	7	15
8	Syracuse	ACC	11–4–3	At Large	6	9
9	North Carolina	ACC	11–3–3	At Large	10	10
10	Charlotte	C-USA	12–3–2	At Large	5	14
11	Washington	Pac-12	13–6–0	At Large	14	8
12	Virginia	ACC	10–3–5	At Large	17	20
13	Notre Dame	ACC	11–7–2	At Large	20	13
14	Albany	America East	12–5–2	Tournament Champion	RV	12
15	Butler	Big East	13–5–1	Tournament Champion	15	11
16	Kentucky	C-USA	11–4–3	At Large	19	18

Schedule[]

Round	Date
First round	November 17, 2016
Second round	November 20, 2016
Third round	November 26–27, 2016
Quarterfinals	December 2 − 4, 2016
College Cup: Semifinals	December 9, 2016
College Cup Final	December 11, 2016

Bracket[]

Regional 1[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
						1	Maryland	4
							Providence	5
		Providence	2
		Delaware	0
												Providence	2
												Creighton	1
		Creighton	3
		Tulsa	0
							Creighton	3
						16	Kentucky	2
																	Providence	0
																9	North Carolina AET	1
						9	North Carolina AET	3
							Florida Gulf Coast	2
		South Florida	2(0)
		Florida Gulf Coast PK	2(3)
											9	North Carolina	1
											8	Syracuse	0
		Dartmouth AET	1
		St. Francis Brooklyn	0
							Dartmouth	0
						8	Syracuse	3

Regional 2[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
						5	Stanford	2
							Pacific	0
		CSUN	0
		Pacific	1
											5	Stanford AET	1
											12	Virginia	0
		Vermont	4
		Rider	1
							Vermont	1
						12	Virginia AET	2
																5	Stanford	2
																4	Louisville	0
						13	Notre Dame	1
							Loyola-Chicago	0
		Loyola-Chicago	2
		UIC	0
											13	Notre Dame	1
											4	Louisville	3
		UCLA	4
		Colgate	2
							UCLA	1
						4	Louisville AET	2

Regional 3[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
						3	Clemson AET	2
							South Carolina	1
		South Carolina	1
		Mercer	0
											3	Clemson	3
											14	Albany	1
		Boston College	1
		Fordham	0
							Boston College	0
						14	Albany	3
																3	Clemson	0
																6	Denver	1
						11	Washington	4
							New Mexico	1
		New Mexico PK	0(6)
		Portland	0(5)
											11	Washington	1
											6	Denver	2
		San Diego State	1(5)
		UNLV PK	1(6)
							UNLV	0
						6	Denver	3

Regional 4[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
						7	Indiana	1
							Akron	0
		Akron	2
		Villanova	0
											7	Indiana	1
												Virginia Tech OT	2
		Virginia Tech	1
		East Tennessee State	0
							Virginia Tech	3
						10	Charlotte	2
																	Virginia Tech	0
																2	Wake Forest	2
						15	Butler	0(4)
							SIUE PK	0(5)
		Michigan State	1(8)
		SIUE PK	1(9)
												SIUE	1
											2	Wake Forest	2
		Coastal Carolina	2
		Radford	1
							Coastal Carolina	0
						2	Wake Forest	2

2016 College Cup[]

	Semifinals December 9 BBVA Compass Stadium Houston, Texas					Championship December 11 BBVA Compass Stadium Houston, Texas
	6	Denver	1
	2	Wake Forest 2OT	2
						2	Wake Forest	0(4)
						5	Stanford PK	0(5)
	9	North Carolina	0(9)
	5	Stanford PK	0(10)

Results[]

First round[]

Second round[]

Third round[]

Quarterfinals[]

College Cup[]

Semifinals[]

National Championship[]

Statistics[]

Goalscorers[]

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goals

See also[]

• NCAA Men's Soccer Championships (Division II, Division III)
• NCAA Women's Soccer Championships (Division I, Division II, Division III)

Notes[]

References[]