2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season

2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season
Duration	Fall season: September 17 – November 22, 2020; Spring season: February 3 – May 17, 2021
Number of teams	207 186 (21 sitting out due to COVID-19)
Top goalscorer	15 goals; Gloire Amanda (Oregon State)
Statistics
Biggest home win	Portland 15-0 Multnomah University; (03/31/2021)
Highest scoring	Portland 15-0 Multnomah University; (03/31/2021)
Longest winning run	4 games; Denver (03/18/21–current)
Longest unbeaten run	9 games; Marshall (7-0-2) (03/11/21–current)
Longest winless run	23 games; Harvard (0–22–1) (10/02/2018-current)
Longest losing run	13 games; Canisius (10/12/19-current)
Highest attendance	5,000 – NCAA Title Game,; Cary, NC 05/18/21
Lowest attendance	0 (multiple closed door games)
Tournament
Duration	April 30 to May 17, 2021
College Cup
Date	May 17, 2021
Site	WakeMed Soccer Park; (Cary, NC)
Champions	Marshall
Runners-up	Indiana
Seasons
	← 2019 2021 →

The 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 62nd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28, 2020, and conclude on November 15, 2020. The season was to culminate with the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, which was to be held from November 18 to December 13, 2020, with the four-team College Cup at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California.

On August 13, 2020, the NCAA tournament was suspended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] Leading up to the postseason tournament suspension, some conferences had planned to play conference-only matches during the fall season, while some conferences opted to postpone the season to Spring 2021 (February to May 2021).^[3] Ultimately, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Sun Belt Conference began play for the 2020 fall season; while a handful of programs scheduled competitive fixtures for the fall 2020 season: Army, Kentucky, Mercer, Navy, South Carolina, and UAB.

On September 16, 2020, the NCAA announced that the spring season would run from February 3 to April 17, 2021, culminating with the NCAA tournament, which was reduced from 48 to 36 teams for this season only. The postponed NCAA tournament began on April 30 and ended on May 17, 2021. The ACC and Sun Belt champions, which were determined in November, earned automatic bids into the tournament. Nevertheless, the fall season began with Notre Dame beating Kentucky, 1–0, on September 17, 2020.

On March 24, 2021, the NCAA announced that the entirety of the men's and women's tournament would be consolidated, with all 36 men's teams and 48 women's teams playing all games in Cary, North Carolina and its vicinity during the period from April 27–May 17.^[4]

Changes from 2019

Coaching changes

Program	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
Central Connecticut	Shaun Green	Retired^[5]	December 6, 2019	Dave Kelly (interim)	January 14, 2020^[6]
Incarnate Word	Chris Fidler (interim)	Not retained after 2 seasons^[7]	November 11, 2019	Kiki Lara	December 20, 2019^[8]
George Mason	Greg Andrulis	Resigned^[9]	November 13, 2019	Elmar Bolowich	January 13, 2020^[10]
Boston U.	Neil Roberts	Retired^[11]	November 18, 2019	Kevin Nylen	January 16, 2020^[12]
Harvard	Pieter Lehrer	Fired^[13]	November 18, 2019	Josh Shapiro	January 13, 2020^[14]
UNC Asheville	Mathes Mennell	Resigned^[15]	November 19, 2019	Mick Giordano (Interim)	February 7, 2020^[16]
Valparaiso	Mike Avery	Program discontinued^[17]	November 20, 2019	N/A	N/A
Boston College	Ed Kelly	Retired^[18]	November 25, 2019	Bob Thompson	January 23, 2020^[19]
Kansas City	Rick Benben	Retired^[20]	December 2, 2019	Ryan Pore	January 14, 2020^[21]
Drexel	Doug Hess	Fired^[22]	December 3, 2019	Michael Marchiano	January 31, 2020^[23]
San Diego State	Lev Kirshner	Fired^[24]	December 6, 2019	Ryan Hopkins	January 21, 2020^[25]
West Virginia	Marlon LeBlanc	Resigned^[26]	December 12, 2019	Dan Stratford	January 20, 2020^[27]
Eastern Illinois	Kiki Lara	Hired by Incarnate Word^[28]	December 23, 2019	Ronnie Bouemboue	February 5, 2020^[29]
Purdue Fort Wayne	Mike Harper	Resigned^{[citation needed]}	January 13, 2020	Stephen Gorton	February 14, 2020^[30]
FIU	Kevin Nylen	Hired by Boston U.^[12]	January 16, 2020	Kyle Russell	February 21, 2020^[31]
Stetson	Cristian Neagu	Fired ^[32]	February 10, 2020	Emmett Rutkowski	February 26, 2020^[33]
VMI	Charlie Hubbard	Hired by James Madison (asst.) ^[34]	March 5, 2020	Max Watson	March 23, 2020 ^[35]
Cincinnati	Hylton Dayes	Resigned, program discontinued^[36]^[37]	March 13, 2020	N/A	N/A
Appalachian State	Jason O'Keefe	Program discontinued^[38]	May 26, 2020	N/A	N/A
Chicago State	N/A	N/A	New program	Trevor Banks	July 20, 2020 ^[39]
Robert Morris	Bill Denniston	Retired^[40]	September 1, 2020	Jason O'Keefe	November 24, 2020^[41]
UTRGV	Paul Leese	Not retained ^[42]	October 18, 2020	Bryheem Hancock	November 24, 2020^[43]
Radford	Bryheem Hancock	Hired by UTRGV ^[44]	November 24, 2020	Chris Barrett,	February 2, 2021^[45]

New programs

On November 27, 2017, it was announced that, in 2020, the Tritons of the University of California, San Diego, located in the San Diego, California district of La Jolla, would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the Big West Conference.^[46]

On January 11, 2019, it was announced that the Trailblazers of Dixie State University, now known as Utah Tech University, of St. George, Utah would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).^[47]

On June 17, 2019, it was announced that the Knights of Bellarmine University of Louisville, Kentucky would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the ASUN Conference.^[48]

Chicago State University announced on June 23, 2020, that it would begin men's soccer effective immediately. The school had first committed to adding the sport when joining the Western Athletic Conference in 2014, and it budgeted for a team in 2016, but the school did not then begin play due to financial challenges and seriously discussed leaving Division I.^[49] The decision to finally add men's soccer came at the same time the school dropped baseball due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cougars will play in their full-time home of the WAC ^[50] but will not begin conference play until 2021.^[51]

On July 15, 2020, after months of consideration, the NCAA granted the highly unusual request of the University of St. Thomas to move directly from Division III to Division I. The school had already accepted an invitation to join the Summit League, and the Tommies will enter Division I and Summit League competition in 2021.^[52]

Discontinued programs

On November 20, 2019, Valparaiso announced that the men's soccer and tennis teams would be eliminated to allow greater attention to the school's other sports teams.^[17]

On April 14, 2020, Cincinnati announced that, due to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the men's soccer program would be discontinued effective immediately.^[36]

On May 26, 2020, Appalachian State, a Division I men's soccer power in the late 1970s, cut the men's soccer program and two other men's programs in response to the financial impact of COVID-19.^[38]

Conference realignment

School	Previous Conference	New Conference
Cal State Bakersfield^[53]	Western Athletic Conference (WAC)	Big West Conference
UC San Diego	California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) (Division II)	Big West Conference
Dixie State	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) (Division II)	Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
Kansas City^[54]	Western Athletic Conference (WAC)	Summit League
Bellarmine	Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) (Division II)	ASUN Conference
UConn^[55]	American Athletic Conference	Big East Conference
Purdue Fort Wayne^[56]	Summit League	Horizon League
Valparaiso	Missouri Valley Conference (MVC)	Program discontinued (MVC now has only 5 teams)
Cincinnati	American Athletic Conference	Program discontinued
Appalachian State	Sun Belt Conference	Program discontinued (Sun Belt now has only 5 teams)
NJIT^[57]	ASUN Conference	America East Conference
Robert Morris^[58]	Northeast Conference	Horizon League
Chicago State^[50]	No team	Western Athletic Conference (played as independent in 2020)

Other changes

In June 2020, the Missouri Valley Conference and SIU Edwardsville jointly announced that SIUE men's soccer would leave the Mid-American Conference and return to the MVC effective with the 2021 season.^[59] While restoring the MVC to six teams, the move then reduced the MAC to only five teams.

The Sun Belt Conference had begun the 2020–21 school year with five men's soccer members, but by the start of the spring 2021 season, two were confirmed to be departing that July for conferences that sponsor men's soccer. On July 6, 2020, Howard announced that it would become an associate member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) in six sports no later than July 2021. Two sports joined the NEC for the 2020–21 school year, while the remaining four, including men's soccer, will join in July 2021.^[60] Then, on January 29, 2021, the ASUN Conference officially announced three schools as incoming full members, including Sun Belt men's soccer associate member Central Arkansas.^[61] With the Sun Belt men's soccer league by that time all but certain to disband after the 2020–21 school year, Conference USA (C-USA) and Coastal Carolina jointly announced on February 25 that the Chanticleers would become men's soccer members of the league effective with the fall 2021 season.^[62] The end of Sun Belt men's soccer was confirmed on May 21 when the Mid-American Conference announced that the last two Sun Belt men's soccer members, Georgia Southern and Georgia State, would join the MAC for the fall 2021 season. This move also restored the MAC men's soccer league to seven teams.^[63]

Season outlook

Preseason polls

NOTE: College Soccer News released its pre-season poll before the NCAA moved the season to the Spring semester. The ACC and the Sun Belt and some other teams played son Fall games, and the Ivy League cancelled its season. Before the Spring season got underway, College Soccer News conducted a new poll and published a new Top 30. The new poll is to the right of the older one.

United Soccer Coaches [1]
Rank	Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

College Soccer News^[64]
Rank	Team
1	Georgetown
2	Stanford
3	Clemson
4	Wake Forest
5	SMU
6	Indiana
7	Virginia
8	UCF
9	Washington
10	Missouri State
11	UCSB
12	Maryland
13	Michigan
14	Virginia Tech
15	Marshall
16	Seattle U
17	St. John's
18	Louisville
19	Campbell
20	Penn State
21	Kentucky
22	Charlotte
23	UC Davis
24	Boston College
25	Yale
26	NC State
27	North Carolina
28	Pitt
29	California
30	Akron

College Soccer News^[65]
Rank	Team
1	Georgetown
2	Stanford
3	Clemson
4	Wake Forest
5	SMU
6	Indiana
7	UCF
8	Washington
9	Pitt
10	Missouri State
11	Virginia Tech
12	Maryland
13	Michigan
14	Marshall
15	Seattle U
16	Notre Dane
17	St. John's
18	North Carolina
19	Kentucky
20	Campbell
21	Penn State
22	Charlotte
23	Coastal Carolina
24	Boston College
25	California
26	Akron
27	Loyola Marymount
28	James Madison
29	Virginia
30	NJIT

Top Drawer Soccer [2]
Rank	Team
1	Georgetown
2	Clemson
3	Pittsburgh
4	Stanford
5	Wake Forest
6	Akron
7	Indiana
8	SMU
9	Marshall
10	UCF
11	Virginia Tech
12	Notre Dane
13	Kentucky
14	North Carolina
15	Loyola Marymount
16	Washington
17	Saint Mary's
18	James Madison
19	Charlotte
20	Coastal Carolina
21	Maryland
22	Portland
23	Penn State
24	St. John's
25	Florida International

Soccer America [3]
Rank	Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

Impact of COVID-19 on season

For the 2020 season, several changes in how the season began, and how conference play was organized affected the 2020 season.

The Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from eight teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination.^[66]
The Big East Conference divided into two divisions, the "East" and "Midwest" divisions to minimize travel and to regionalize conference play.^[67]
The Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from six teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination.^[68]
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference announced that the men's soccer season will begin on September 11, rather than August 28.^[69]
The Mid-American Conference discontinued its men's soccer tournament.^[70] All teams will play each other home-and-home.
The Southern Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, for the 2020 season only, will be reduced from six teams to four, to minimize travel and contamination.^[71]
On July 8, the Ivy League cancelled all intercollegiate sports for the 2020 Fall semester; this includes both men's and women's soccer.^[72]
On July 10, the Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences announced all teams will play the 2020 season with conference-only matches^[73]
On July 13, the Patriot League announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer would be cancelled.^[74]
On July 17, the Atlantic 10 Conference announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed to spring 2021.^[75]
On August 13, the Western Athletic Conference announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed to spring 2021. However, the league is allowing non-conference games.^[76]
On August 13, the Southern Conference announced that conference competition in all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be suspended through the end of the calendar year.^[77]
On August 14, the ASUN Conference announced that all fall sports, including men's soccer, would be postponed with the intent to hold them in the spring 2021.^[78]
On August 15, the NCAA suspended the men's soccer championship for the fall season, with the possibility of being played in winter or spring 2021
On August 27, three conferences confirmed to play in the fall, with individual programs allowed to play games in the fall. The ACC and the Sun Belt played in fall 2020.
On October 15, the ASUN announced that it would split into North and South Divisions for the spring 2021 season only. Conference standings, and with them seeding in the conference tournament, were based exclusively on results within each division.^[79]

Fall 2020 season

Standings

Template:2020 ACC men's soccer standings

Template:2020 Sun Belt Conference men's fall soccer standings

Rankings

Top-ranked team

Weekly United Soccer Coaches #1 ranked team (Fall 2020)
Date	Team	Date	Team	Date	Team	Date	Team
September 22	Wake Forest	September 29	Wake Forest	October 6	Wake Forest	October 13	Wake Forest
October 20	Pitt	October 27	Pitt	November 3	Pitt	November 10	Pitt
November 17	Pitt	November 24	Clemson	end of fall 2020 season

Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week

Bold denotes TDS player of the week.

Team of the week
Week	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Honorable mention
Sep. 22 ^[80]	McLaughlin (Notre Dame)	Soumah (South Carolina) Mayer (Notre Dame) Henderson (Georgia State) Calzola (Central Arkansas)	McFadden (Notre Dame) Buete (UAB) Guest (Georgia State)	Martineau (Mercer) Briggs (Georgia State) Banahan (South Carolina)	Russo (Notre Dame) Tyson (Georgia State) Kim (Mercer) Frost (South Carolina)
Sep. 29 ^[81]	Campuzano (Pitt)	Screen (Kentucky) Cortes (Georgia Southern) Hodge (Georgia State)	Gaither (Mercer) Pariano (Duke) Jacquesson (Pitt) Rouse (Kentucky) Finnie (Georgia State)	Harris (Wake Forest) Dexter (Pitt)	Chol (Wake Forest) Davie (Georgia Southern) Fearnely (Georgia State) Loughrey (UAB) Wright (Duke)
Oct. 6 ^[82]	Smir (North Carolina)	Mabika (Kentucky) Rula (Wake Forest) Constant (North Carolina)	Fearnley (Georgia State) Rouse (Kentucky) Barber (Clemson)	Holcomb (Wake Forest) Seye (Clemson) Fonseca (Louisville) Briggs (Georgia State)	Chol (Wake Forest) Bjorgolfsson (Kentucky) Proctor (Georgia State) Sample (Louisville)
Oct. 13 ^[83]	Shutler (Virginia)	Zattarin (North Carolina) Meyer (Notre Dame) Couteau (Coastal Carolina) Soumah (South Carolina)	Petkovic (Pitt) Parente (Wake Forest) Doran (Duke) Jacquesson (Pitt) Jensen (Central Arkansas)	Wrona (Wake Forest)	Benalcázar (Wake Forest) Lynn (Notre Dame) Brady (South Carolina) Pariano (Duke) Malou (Clemson) Tyson (Georgia State) Noël (Pitt)
Oct. 20 ^[84]	Tyson (Georgia State)	Lage (Coastal Carolina) Ordoñez (Pitt) Ågren (Clemson)	Bennett (Georgia State) Noël (Pitt) El-Medkhar (Kentucky) Guest (Georgia State) Jackson (Navy)	Smith (Clemson) Kerr (Syracuse)	Bjorgolfsson (Kentucky) Brighton (Clemson) Abdikadir (Louisville) Pereira (Virginia Tech)
Oct. 27 ^[85]	Shealy (Syracuse)	Malou (Clemson) Washington (Pitt)	Jensen (Central Arkansas) Hernandez (Wake Forest) Petkovic (Pitt) McFadden (Notre Dame)	Backlock (Virginia Tech) Barber (Clemson) Hackenberg (Coastal Carolina) Harris (Wake Forest)	Rando (Virginia) Doran (Duke) Suárez (Central Arkansas) Pannenberg (Wake Forest) Quinton (Notre Dame)
Nov. 3 ^[86]	Rando (Virginia)	Suárez (Central Arkansas) Constant (North Carolina) Ueland (Virginia) Edwards (NC State) Benalcázar (Wake Forest)	Pereira (Virginia Tech) Fearnley (Georgia State)	Smith (Clemson) Labovitz (Virginia Tech) Chol (Wake Forest)	Harris (Wake Forest) Strickler (Virginia Tech) Laufer (Central Arkansas) Barber (Clemson)
Nov. 10 ^[87]	Tyson (Georgia State)	Constant (North Carolina) Skraep (Coastal Carolina) Tubbs (Wake Forest) Proctor (Georgia State)	Pereira (Virginia Tech) Giacobello (Notre Dame) Jones (Coastal Carolina) Kinyua (Virginia Tech)	Holcomb (Wake Forest) Lynn (Notre Dame)	Labovitz (Virginia Tech) Parente (Wake Forest)
Nov. 17 ^[88]	Saunders (Coastal Carolina)	Henderson (Georgia State) Ueland (Virginia) Lage (Coastal Carolina)	Walti (Pitt) McFadden (Notre Dame) Noël (Pitt)	Barber (Clemson) Kamseu (Virginia) Leiva (Coastal Carolina) Smith (Clemson)	N/A

Major upsets

In this list, a "major upset" is defined as a game won by an unranked team that defeats a ranked team.

All rankings are from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

Date	Winner	Score	Loser
October 9, 2020	North Carolina	1–0	No. 3 Clemson
October 13, 2020	Clemson	2–1	No. 1 Wake Forest
November 15, 2020	Virginia	2–0	No. 2 Wake Forest

Fall postseason

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular Season Champion(s)	Tournament Winner	Conference Tournament	Tournament Dates	Tournament Venue (City)
ACC	North- Pitt South- Wake Forest	Clemson	Tournament	November 15–22	Dorrance Field • Chapel Hill, NC
Sun Belt	Coastal Carolina	Coastal Carolina	Tournament	November 11–15	GSU Soccer Field • Atlanta, GA