The 2019 NCAA Division I women's soccer season was the 38th season of NCAA championship women's college soccer.
Preseason Coaching changes ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointmentReferences Arkansas-Pine Bluff Ted Flogaites Resigned January 17, 2019 Jeremy Winzer May 6, 2019 Boston College Alison Foley Resigned December 11, 2018 Jason Lowe January 9, 2019 Central Michigan Peter McGahey Contract Expired November 2, 2018 Jeremy Groves December 4, 2018 Eastern Kentucky Nick Flohre Resigned for family reasons November 11, 2018 Matt Cosinuke January 3, 2019 Green Bay Wojtek Krakowiak (interim) Interim Coach None listed Jason Spain January 10, 2019 Idaho State Allison Gibson Contract Expired October 29, 2018 Debs Brereton December 4, 2018 Indiana Amy Berbary Contract Expired November 8, 2018 Erwin van Bennekom December 4, 2018 Iona Sarah Brady Resigned October 3, 2018 Todd Plourde January 11, 2019 Jackson State Dean Joseph None listed None listed Ted Flogaites January 22, 2019 Louisiana Scot Wieland Resigned October 22, 2018 Lance Key December 6, 2018 Loyola (Maryland) Naomi Meiburger Resigned November 22, 2018 Joe Mallia December 18, 2018 LSU Brian Lee Resigned March 29, 2019 Debbie Hensley June 24, 2019 Mississippi State Tom Anagnost Resigned January 4, 2019 James Armstrong January 18, 2019 Nicholls Mac McBride Resigned January 31, 2019 Danny Free July 3, 2019 North Florida Robin Confer Resigned November 26, 2018 Eric Faulconer November 26, 2019 Northern Arizona Andre Luciano Resigned December 5, 2018 Kylie Louw March 5, 2019 Oregon State Linus Rhode Not Retained November 5, 2018 Matt Kagan December 18, 2018 Rice Nicky Adams Resigned February 25, 2019 Brian Lee March 29, 2019 Seton Hall Rick Stainton Pursue other opportunities October 29, 2018 Ciara Crinion December 12, 2018 Stony Brook Brendan Faherty Resigned December 19, 2018 Tobias Bischof January 24, 2019 Stetson Manoj Khettry Contract Expired November 1, 2018 Chris Bergmann December 26, 2018 Syracuse Phil Wheddon Pursue other opportunities October 26, 2018 Nicky Adams February 25, 2019 Texas Southern Kathryn Balogun Resigned December 10, 2018 Lindsay Vera March 4, 2019 UC Davis Twila Kaufman Resigned April 12, 2019 Tracy Hamm May 6, 2019 UIC Brian Rigby Not Retained November 8, 2018 Tom Anagnost January 7, 2019 UNC Asheville Lindsay Vera None listed None listed Clifton Bush April 2, 2019 UTEP Kevin Cross Fired October 29, 2018 Kathryn Balogun December 10, 2018 VMI Chris Bergmann Resigned December 26, 2018 Chris Haught-Thompson February 1, 2019 Wofford Eric Lewis (interim) Interim Coach None listed Emily Grant January 2, 2019 Yale Rudy Meredith Resigned, as part of an admissions scandal November 15, 2018 Brendan Faherty December 19, 2018
New stadiums opening
New programs The Merrimack Warriors began the transition from Division II to Division I and joined the Northeast Conference.
Long Island University announced in October 2018 that its two then-current athletic programs—the Division I LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers—would merge into a single Division I athletic program under the LIU name after the 2018–19 school year. The unified program, which maintains LIU Brooklyn's Division I and Northeast Conference memberships, announced its new nickname of Sharks on May 15, 2019. With both campuses sponsoring women's soccer, the two teams became a single LIU team based at the Post campus in Nassau County, New York in the 2019 season.
Three schools that sponsor women's soccer began transitions from Division II in the 2020–21 school year. Bellarmine joinrf the ASUN Conference, Dixie State joined the Western Athletic Conference, and UC San Diego will join the Big West Conference.
Rebranded programs In addition to LIU, one other Division I women's soccer program assumed a new athletic identity during the 2018–19 offseason. On July 1, 2019, the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) announced that its athletic program, previously known as the UMKC Kangaroos, would henceforth be known as the Kansas City Roos, with "Roos" having long been used as a short form of the historic "Kangaroos" nickname.
Conference realignment SchoolPrevious ConferenceNew Conference Merrimack Northeast-10 Conference (NCAA Division II) Northeast Conference
This was also the final season for four programs in their current conferences. The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners and Kansas City Roos will both leave the Western Athletic Conference in July 2020, with the Roadrunners joining the Big West Conference and the Roos returning to their former conference home of the Summit League. Note that the Roos' impending return to the Summit League was announced shortly before the university announced its athletic rebranding. At the same time, the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons will leave the Summit League for the Horizon League, and the UConn Huskies will leave the American Athletic Conference to join several of their former conference mates in the Big East Conference.
Season outlook Preseason polls
United Soccer CoachesRankTeam1 Florida State2 North Carolina3 Stanford4 UCLA5 USC6 Penn State7 Georgetown8 Duke9 Virginia10 Tennessee11 West Virginia12 Texas A&M13 Santa Clara14 Baylor15 South Carolina16 Wisconsin17 Vanderbilt18 South Florida19 Texas20 Memphis21 NC State22 Texas Tech23 Wake Forest24 LSU25 Virginia Tech Top Drawer SoccerRankTeam1 Florida State2 UCLA3 North Carolina4 Stanford5 Virginia6 Penn State7 USC8 Georgetown9 Santa Clara10 Vanderbilt11 Texas A&M12 Tennessee13 Texas14 South Florida15 Washington State16 South Carolina17 Duke18 West Virginia19 Rutgers20 Saint Louis21 NC State22 BYU23 Princeton24 Memphis25 Baylor Soccer AmericaRankTeam1 Florida State2 Stanford3 UCLA4 North Carolina5 USC6 Penn State7 Georgetown8 Virginia9 Santa Clara10 Texas A&M11 Baylor12 Duke13 Vanderbilt14 West Virginia15 South Florida16 Tennessee17 Texas18 Rutgers19 South Carolina20 Texas Tech21 Wisconsin22 Clemson23 Washington State24 NC State25 Colorado
Regular season 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.
All rankings are from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Date Winner Score Loser August 25 No. 21 NC State 3–1 No. 7 Georgetown August 29 Rutgers 1–0 No. 11 Tennessee September 5 Santa Clara 2–0 No. 2 UCLA September 6 Iowa 1–0 No. 14 NC State DePaul 1–0 No. 11 Kansas September 12 Oklahoma State 2–1 No. 8 Penn State September 13 Michigan 2–1 No. 13 Washington State September 15 Arkansas 2–0 No. 1 North Carolina Louisville 1–0 No. 9 Vanderbilt UC Santa Barbara 1–0 No. 2 Stanford September 22 Wisconsin 2–1 No. 13 Rutgers September 27 California 2–1 No. 7 UCLA September 29 Florida 1–0 No. 15 Vanderbilt October 6 Florida 3–1 No. 12 Texas A&M October 10 No. 25 Arizona 1–0 No. 15 Washington State October 18 California 3–0 No. 4 USC TCU 2–1 No. 13 Texas Tech October 24 DePaul 1–0 (OT) No. 14 Georgetown Miami (FL) 3–2 (2OT) No. 15 Clemson October 28 Washington 2–0 No. 7 USC November 3 Purdue 1–0 No. 7 Wisconsin NC State 2–1 (OT) No. 14 Louisville November 8 Michigan 2–1 No. 15 Rutgers TCU 2–1 No. 13 Texas Tech November 10 South Florida 2–0 No. 8 Memphis No. 21 Kansas 2–1 (2OT) No. 10 Oklahoma State November 22 Washington State 3–2 No. 3 Virginia
Conference standings
Conference winners and tournaments ConferenceRegular Season Champion(s)Tournament WinnerConference TournamentTournamentDatesTournament Venue (City) ACC North Carolina 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Sahlen's Stadium • Cary, North Carolina America East Albany & Stony Brook Stony Brook 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed American Memphis South Florida 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Sahlen's Stadium • Cary, North Carolina ASUN Florida Gulf Coast & Lipscomb Lipscomb 2019 Tournament November 1–9 Quarterfinals and semifinals: Campus sites, hosted by top two seedsFinal: Hosted by top remaining seed Atlantic 10 Saint Louis 2019 Tournament November 2–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hermann Stadium • St. Louis, Missouri Big 12 Oklahoma State Kansas 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Swope Soccer Village • Kansas City, Missouri Big East Xavier 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Morrison Stadium • Omaha, Nebraska Big Sky Montana Northern Colorado 2019 Tournament November 6–10 Jackson Stadium • Greeley, Colorado Big South High Point Radford 2019 Tournament November 1–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Sportsplex at Matthews • Matthews, North Carolina Big Ten Wisconsin Penn State 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Yurcak Field • Piscataway, New Jersey Big West Cal State Fullerton 2019 Tournament November 7–10 Hosted by regular-season champion CAA Hofstra 2019 Tournament November 1–9 Quarterfinals and semifinals: Campus sites, hosted by top two seedsFinal: Hosted by top remaining seed C-USA Florida Atlantic North Texas 2019 Tournament November 6–10 UNT Soccer and Track & Field Stadium • Denton, Texas Horizon Milwaukee 2019 Tournament November 4–9 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by #3 and #4 seedsSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Ivy Brown No Tournament MAAC Monmouth 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed MAC Bowling Green 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by top remaining seed Missouri Valley Loyola–Chicago 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium • Springfield, Missouri Mountain West Boise State & San Diego State Boise State 2019 Tournament November 5–9 Boas Tennis and Soccer Complex • Boise, Idaho Northeast Central Connecticut 2019 Tournament November 8–10 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Ohio Valley Southeast Missouri Belmont 2019 Tournament November 1–10 First round and quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by #3 and #4 seedsSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Pac-12 Stanford No Tournament Patriot Navy 2019 Tournament November 5–10 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by #3 and #4 seedsSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion SEC South Carolina (East) South Carolina 2019 Tournament November 3–10 Orange Beach Sportsplex • Orange Beach, Alabama Arkansas (West) SoCon Furman & Samford Samford 2019 Tournament November 8–10 UNCG Soccer Stadium • Greensboro, North Carolina Southland Lamar 2019 Tournament November 8–10 Bill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex • Conway, Arkansas The Summit Denver South Dakota State 2019 Tournament November 7–9 Fishback Soccer Park • Brookings, South Dakota Sun Belt South Alabama 2019 Tournament November 6–10 Foley Sports Tourism Complex • Foley, Alabama SWAC Howard & Prairie View A&M Prairie View A&M 2019 Tournament November 7–10 Prairie View A&M Soccer Field • Prairie View, Texas WCC BYU No Tournament WAC Seattle 2019 Tournament November 6–10 Championship Field • Seattle, Washington
Postseason NCAA Tournament
Final rankings