The 2021 NCAA Division I women's soccer season was the 40th season of NCAA championship women's college soccer.
Preseason Coaching changes ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointmentReferences Arizona Tony Amato Accepted head coach position at Florida May 24, 2021 Becca Moros June 16, 2021 Canisius Todd Clark Resigned April 2020 Ryan Lewis April 30, 2021 Colorado State Bill Hempen Fired May 6, 2021 Keeley Hagen June 1, 2021 DePaul Erin Chastain Accepted head coach position at Minnesota June 11, 2021 Michelle O'Brien June 28, 2021 Eastern Washington Chad Bodnar Contract not renewed May 10, 2021 Missy Strasburg June 23, 2021 Florida Becky Burleigh Retired March 12, 2021 Tony Amato May 24, 2021 George Mason Todd Bramble Accepted position as Deputy AD June 8, 2021 Manya Puppione July 14, 2021 Houston Baptist Misty Jones Resigned March 2021 Chris Dodd May 24, 2021 Michigan State Tom Saxton Retired April 15, 2021 Jeff Hosler June 14, 2021 Minnesota Stefanie Golan Accepted head coach position at Missouri May 20, 2021 Erin Chastain June 11, 2021 Missouri Bryan Blitz Retired April 18, 2021 Stefanie Golan May 20, 2021 Nicholls Alexsis Cable Accepted assistant coach position at North Texas — Robert Podeyn June 28, 2021 Northwestern State Jess Jobe Accepted head coach position at Dallas Baptist May 24, 2021 Stuart Gore June 18, 2021 Oregon State Matt Kagan Resigned May 26, 2021 Lauren Sinacoloa July 2, 2021 Troy Ged O'Connor Accepted head coach position at Saint Leo July 2021 Nicole Waters (Interim) July 26, 2021 Tulsa Kyle Cussen Resigned June 18, 2021 Jim Rhein (interim) June 18, 2021 UIC Dustin Downey (Interim) Appointed full-time head coach April 29, 2021 David Nikolic April 29, 2021 Utah Rich Manning Accepted assistant coach position at Northwestern April 22, 2021 Hideki Nakada May 27, 2021 Utah State Heather Cairns Resigned April 16, 2021 Manny Martins May 24, 2021 Wright State Pat Ferguson Resigned — Travis Sobers August 4, 2021 Wyoming Pete Cuadrado Accepted head coach position at Tarleton May 21, 2021 Colleen Boyd June 21, 2021
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. UC San Diego and the Big West canceled fall sports in 2020 and they did not play a make-up season in the spring of 2021. Therefore, the fall of 2021 was the first season for the Tritons in Division I women's soccer. 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 entered Division I and Summit League competition in 2021.
Conference realignment SchoolPrevious ConferenceNew Conference Abilene Christian Southland Conference Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Central Arkansas Southland Conference ASUN Conference Eastern Kentucky Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) ASUN Conference Howard Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Northeast Conference Jacksonville State Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) ASUN Conference Lamar Southland Conference Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Division III) Summit League Sam Houston Southland Conference Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Stephen F. Austin Southland Conference Western Athletic Conference (WAC) UC San Diego California Collegiate Athletic Association (Division II) Big West Conference
In addition to these schools moving divisions, the ASUN Conference and the Western Athletic Conference divided into divisional play for the first time.
Season outlook Preseason polls
United Soccer CoachesRankTeam1 Florida State (11)2 Santa Clara (18)3 North Carolina (3)4 Virginia (1)5 UCLA6 Duke7 Clemson8 TCU9 Texas A&M10 Penn State11 Georgetown12 West Virginia13 Arkansas14 USC15 BYU16 Oklahoma State17 South Carolina18 Vanderbilt19 Washington20 South Florida21 Saint Louis22 Rice23 Ole Miss24 Stanford25 Rutgers Top Drawer SoccerRankTeam1 Santa Clara2 Florida State3 Virginia4 North Carolina5 UCLA6 USC7 Duke8 Clemson9 Georgetown10 Arkansas11 TCU12 BYU13 Texas A&M14 West Virginia15 South Carolina16 Saint Louis17 Oklahoma State18 Washington19 South Florida20 Penn State21 Vanderbilt22 Rice23 Hofstra24 Rutgers25 Brown
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 No. 15 or higher.
All rankings are from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Date Winner Score Loser August 19 Pepperdine 2–0 No. 14 USC August 21 Auburn 2–1 No. 15 BYU August 26 Long Beach State 2–1 No. 8 Pepperdine LSU 2–1 No. 15 South Florida August 28 No. 21 Texas A&M 3–1 No. 9 Clemson August 30 Arkansas 2–0 No. 14 BYU September 2 Georgia 3–1 No. 15 Clemson September 5 No. 18 UCF 2–1 No. 7 Penn State September 9 Princeton 4–3 No. 9 Rutgers No. 14 Penn State 4–2 No. 3 Virginia Clemson 2–1 No. 12 South CarolinaSeptember 12 No. 24 Georgetown 1–0 No. 9 Rutgers Drake 2–0 No. 15 Memphis September 16 Houston 1–0 No. 14 UCF September 17 Arkansas 3–1 No. 13 Tennessee September 23 Northwestern 2–1 No. 12 Penn State Ole Miss 2–0 No. 5 LSU September 26 Baylor 2–1 No. 8 TCU Georgia 2–1 (OT) No. 5 LSU Ohio State 2–0 No. 12 Penn State September 30 Oregon State 2–1 No. 7 Stanford October 1 No. 25 South Carolina 3–2 No. 13 Auburn October 7 Houston 1–0 No. 15 SMU NC State 2–1 (2OT) No. 4 Duke October 10 Kansas 2–1 (2OT) No. 9 West Virginia October 14 Northeastern 1–0 No. 12 Hofstra October 16 NC State 1–0 No. 3 North Carolina October 17 South Florida 1–0 (OT) No. 14 Memphis October 20 Santa Clara 4–0 No. 3 Pepperdine October 21 Missouri 2–1 No. 13 Ole Miss Vanderbilt 2–1 No. 10 Tennessee October 28 LSU 4–2 No. 4 Arkansas Memphis 5–0 No. 14 SMU October 30 No. 25 Santa Clara 1–0 No. 11 BYU October 31 Wake Forest 2–1 No. 2 Duke November 4 St. John's 1–0 No. 11 Xavier November 12 UC Irvine 1–0 No. 3 UCLA November 13 Milwaukee 1–0 No. 14 Xavier South Carolina 1–0 No. 10 North Carolina
Conference standings
Conference winners and tournaments ConferenceRegular Season Champion(s)Tournament WinnerConference TournamentTournamentDatesTournament Venue (City) ACC Virginia Florida State 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: WakeMed Soccer Park • Cary, North Carolina America East Vermont 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed American South Florida Memphis 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion ASUN Florida Gulf Coast (East) Lipscomb 2021 Tournament October 29–November 6 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Lipscomb (West) Atlantic 10 VCU Saint Louis 2021 Tournament October 30–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by top remaining seed Big 12 TCU 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Round Rock Multipurpose Complex • Round Rock, Texas Big East Xavier Georgetown 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Big Sky Northern Colorado Montana 2021 Tournament November 3–7 Jackson Stadium • Greeley, Colorado Big South Campbell High Point 2021 Tournament October 30–November 7 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Big Ten Rutgers Michigan 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by top remaining seed Big West UC Irvine 2021 Tournament November 4–7 Hosted by regular-season champion CAA UNC Wilmington Hofstra 2021 Tournament November 4–7 Rudd Field • Elon, North Carolina C-USA Old Dominion (East) Old Dominion 2021 Tournament November 1–7 FAU Soccer Stadium • Boca Raton, Florida Southern Miss (West) Horizon Milwaukee 2021 Tournament October 31–November 6 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Ivy Brown No Tournament MAAC Monmouth 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed MAC Bowling Green 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Missouri Valley Loyola Chicago 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Mountain West New Mexico 2021 Tournament November 1–6 Boas Tennis and Soccer Complex • Boise, Idaho Northeast Central Connecticut 2021 Tournament November 5–7 Hosted by regular-season champion Ohio Valley SIU Edwardsville & UT Martin SIU Edwardsville 2021 Tournament October 29–November 7 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Pac-12 UCLA No Tournament Patriot Boston University Bucknell 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed SEC Tennessee (East) Tennessee 2021 Tournament October 31–November 7 Orange Beach Sportsplex • Orange Beach, Alabama Arkansas (West) SoCon Samford 2021 Tournament October 26–November 7 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Southland Northwestern State 2021 Tournament November 3–7 Dr. Jack Dugan Soccer & Track Stadium • Corpus Christi, Texas The Summit Denver South Dakota State 2021 Tournament November 4–6 DU Soccer Stadium • Denver, Colorado Sun Belt Arkansas State South Alabama 2021 Tournament November 2–8 Foley Sports Tourism Complex • Foley, Alabama SWAC Alabama A&M & Prairie View A&M Prairie View A&M 2021 Tournament November 4–7 PVAMU Soccer Complex • Prairie View, Texas WCC BYU & Santa Clara No Tournament WAC Stephen F. Austin (Southwest) Grand Canyon 2021 Tournament November 3–7 Elmer Gray Stadium • Abilene, Texas Grand Canyon (West)
Postseason NCAA Tournament
Final rankings RankUnited SoccerTopDrawerSoccer.com 1 Florida State Florida State 2 BYU BYU 3 Rutgers Rutgers 4 Santa Clara Santa Clara 5 Duke Arkansas 6 Arkansas Duke 7 Michigan Michigan 8 Virginia South Carolina 9 TCU Virginia 10 South Carolina TCU 11 Tennessee Tennessee 12 USC Pepperdine 13 Pepperdine Penn State 14 North Carolina Wisconsin 15 UCLA Notre Dame 16 Notre Dame UCLA 17 Washington State North Carolina 18 Ole Miss USC 19 Xavier Princeton 20 Memphis Hofstra 21 SMU Georgetown 22 Georgetown Memphis 23 Penn State St. John's 24 Purdue Brown 25 Wake Forest Purdue
Award winners All-America teams
2021 United Soccer Coaches All-America Teams First Team Second Team Third Team Ashley Orkus, GK, Ole Miss Naomi Girma, DF, Stanford Emily Madril, DF, Florida State Alia Martin, DF, Michigan Gabby Provenzano, DF, Rutgers Croix Bethune, MF, USC Mikayla Colohan, MF, BYU Parker Goins, MF, Arkansas Jaelin Howell, MF, Florida State Frankie Tagliaferri, MF, Rutgers Messiah Bright, FW, TCU Michelle Cooper, FW, Duke Diana Ordóñez, FW, Virginia Miri Taylor, FW, Hofstra Kelsey Turnbow, FW, Santa ClaraKaitlyn Parks, GK, Wake Forest Maycee Bell, DF, North Carolina Sydney Cummings, DF, Georgetown Alex Loera, DF, Santa Clara Alyssa Malonson, DF, Auburn Brandi Peterson, DF, TCU Sam Coffey, MF, Penn State Lia Godfrey, MF, Virginia Sydny Nasello, MF, USF Yujie Zhao, MF, Florida State Elyse Bennett, FW, Washington State Sarah Griffith, FW, Purdue Zsani Kajan, FW, St. John's Megan Nemec, FW, Loyola-Chicago Brittany Raphino, FW, Brown Jaida Thomas, FW, TennesseeLauren Kozal, GK, Michigan State Elaina LaMacchia, GK, Milwaukee Megan Bornkamp, DF, Clemson Jordan Brewster, DF, West Virginia Wrenne French, DF, Tennessee Hannah Bebar, MF, Harvard Maya Doms, MF, Stanford Julia Grosso, MF, Texas Lucy Porter, MF, Hofstra Amirah Ali, FW, Rutgers Mollie Belisle, FW, Georgia