2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament

The 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was the 63rd edition of the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, a postseason tournament that determined the national champion of the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The College Cup, the semifinals and finals of the tournament, were played on December 10 and December 12 in Cary, North Carolina.

Qualification Pending the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, 48 teams have been selected to participate. There were 23 automatic bids: the 20 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 25 berths are 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 named 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.

Qualified teams Team Qualified as Qualified on Qualification typePrevious appearances in tournament Previous bestperformance Notre Dame ACC champions Automatic 22 (1988, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) Winners (2013)Vermont Am. East champions 10 (1975, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2007, 2015, 2016 ) Quarterfinals (1989)Tulsa American champions 11 (1991, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 ) Quarterfinals (2004, 2009)Lipscomb ASUN champions 2 (2017, 2018) First round (2017, 2018) Saint Louis Atlantic 10 champions 48 (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014) Winners (1959, 1960. 1962, 1963, 1965. 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973) Georgetown Big East champions 11 (1994, 1997, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Winners (2019) Campbell Big South champions 3 (2007, 2018, 2019) Second round (2019) Penn State Big Ten champions 34 (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020) Semifinals (1979)UC Santa BarbaraBig West champions13 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019)Winners (2006)HofstraCAA champions5 (1968, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2015)Second round (2004, 2006, 2015)KentuckyC-USA champions11 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020)Quarterfinals (2018)OaklandHorizon champions7 (2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015)Second round (2007, 2014)PrincetonIvy champions10 (1977, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2018)Semifinals (1993)MaristMAAC champions2 (2004, 2005)First round (2004, 2005)Northern IllinoisMAC champions3 (1973, 2006, 2011)Round of 16 (2011)Missouri StateMVC champions5 (1997, 1999, 2009, 2019, 2020)Round of 16 (2020)LIUNEC champions15 (1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 2004, 2015, 2018)Runners-Up (1966)Oregon StatePac-12 champions5 (2002, 2003, 2014, 2018, 2020)Second round (2014)Loyola (MD)Patriot champions8 (1986, 1987, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009)Quarterfinals (1986, 1987)MercerSoCon champions4 (2001, 2016, 2017, 2019)First round (2001, 2016, 2017, 2019)DenverSummit champions9 (1970, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)Semifinals (2016)SeattleWAC champions4 (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)Round of 16 (2015)Santa ClaraWCC champions20 (1973, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2015)Winners (1989)WashingtonNo. 1 RPIAt-large27 (1968, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)Quarterfinals (2013, 2019, 2020)DukeNo. 4 RPI27 (1972, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2018)Winners (1986)PittsburghNo. 7 RPI4 (1962, 1965, 2019, 2020)Semifinals (2020)ClemsonNo. 9 RPI33 (1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)Winners (1984, 1987)New HampshireNo. 11 RPI5 (1994, 2017, 2018, 2019,2020)Round of 16 (2017)Grand CanyonNo. 12 RPI2 (2019, 2020)Second round (2020) Indiana No. 13 RPI 45 (1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Winners (1982, 1983, 1988, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2012)ProvidenceNo. 15 RPI10 (1983, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019)Semifinals (2014)MarshallNo. 17 RPI2 (2019, 2020)Winners (2020)FIUNo. 18 RPI10 (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2015, 2017)Runners-up (1996)West VirginiaNo. 19 RPI14 (1966, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1981, 1992, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019)Quarterfinals (1981)North CarolinaNo. 20 RPI27 (1968, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2105, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020)Winners (2001, 2011)MarylandNo. 22 RPI38 (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976, 1986, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)Winners (1968, 2005, 2008, 2018)Virginia TechNo. 24 RPI9 (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)Semifinals (2007)UCLANo. 25 RPI45 (1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973,1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018)Winners (1985, 1990, 1997, 2002)CreightonNo. 26 RPI24 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 )Runners-up (2000)AkronNo. 27 RPI29 (1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)Winners (2010)VillanovaNo. 28 RPI1 (2016)First round (2016)St. John'sNo. 29 RPI21 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019)Winners (1996)PortlandNo. 32 RPI16 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2016, 2018)Semifinals (1988, 1995)LouisvilleNo. 33 RPI12 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)Runners-up (2010)Wake ForestNo. 34 RPI24 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)Winners (2007)CharlotteNo. 35 RPI15 (1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020)Runners-up (2011)Georgia StateNo. 36 RPI2 (2011, 2018)First round (2011, 2018)Bowling GreenNo. 49 RPI7 (1972, 1973, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2020)Round of 16 (1972, 1973, 1996, 1997)

Seeded teams

Seeded teams Seed School Conference Record Berth type United SoccerCoachesranking RPI ranking1Oregon State7–1–212–2–3Automatic1st2nd2Washington6–1–214–1–2At-Large3rd1st3Georgetown8–2–016–2–0Automatic7th3rd4Notre Dame4–2–212–5–3Automatic20th5th5Pittsburgh5–2–111–5–1At-Large5th7th6Tulsa8–1–115–1–1Automatic2nd6th7Duke5–2–113–4–1At-Large11th4th8Clemson5–3–013–5–0At-Large9th9th9Kentucky3–1–414–1–4Automatic15th8th10Saint Louis8–0–014–0–4Automatic8th14th11West Virginia4–1–111–2–4At-Large21st19th12Penn State6–2–013–6–1Automatic24th21st13FIU7–0–112–3–2At-Large14th18th14Marshall5–1–211–3–3At-Large4th17th15Indiana5–3–014–5–1At-Large17th13th16New Hampshire7–0–116–1–2At-Large6th11th

Bracket The bracket was announced on Monday, November 15, 2021. First round games will be played on November 18 at campus sites.

Regional 1 Host Institution*

Regional 2

Host Institution*

Regional 3

Host Institution*

Regional 4

Host Institution*

2021 College Cup

Results

First round

Second round

Third round

Quarterfinals

College Cup Semifinals

College Cup Final

Records by conference ConferenceBidsRecordPct.R32R16E8F4CGNCACC811–4–5753211Big East57–5–15211––Pac-1237–2–132211–Atlantic 1012–1–0111–––MAC54–5–1411–––America East21–2–011––––American11–1–011––––Big Ten31–3–021––––CAA12–1–011––––C-USA41–4–031––––WCC22–2–02–––––NEC11–1–01–––––Summit11–1–01–––––10 Others110–10–1––––––

The R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the Round of 32 (second round), Round of 16 (third round), Quarterfinals (Elite Eight), Semifinals (Final Four), Championship Game, and National Champion, respectively. The following conferences failed to place a team into the round of 32: ASUN, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Ivy League, MAAC, MVC, Patriot, SoCon, WAC. The conference's records have been consolidated in the other row.

Statistics

Goalscorers

Honors

College Cup All-Tournament team

GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwardsRef George Marks (Clemson) Oskar Ågren (Clemson) Justin Malou (Clemson) Charlie Ostrem (Washington) Ryan Sailor (Washington) Luis Fernandez-Salvador (Clemson) Lucas Meek (Washington) Dylan Teves (Washington) Zach Riviere (Georgetown) Jack Lynn (Notre Dame) Isaiah Reid (Clemson)

See also 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament

References