The 2010 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 17th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at Reach 11 Sports Complex, in Phoenix, Arizona from Thursday, November 18 to Saturday, November 20, 2010.
Overview
Men's championship In the finals, 2005 champions Colorado would face finals debutants Missouri. Coming into the finals, both teams won their Sweet 16 matchup 1–0. While Colorado won their next two games against Northwestern and Arizona, respectively, by 3 goals each, Missouri needed a 10-round penalty shootout against Cal Poly in the quarterfinals and a late second half goal against Texas in the semifinals. In the finals, Colorado started early with a goal in the 18th minute by eventual MVP Connor Hutchinson then doubled their advantage right at the end of the first half with a goal from Anthony Smoller in the 40th minute. Conner Hutchinson added a third goal 5 minutes prior to the end of the game, but a last minute PK from Missouri's Shane Rasch would be the last meaningful action of the match as Colorado claimed a 3–1 victory and their second national title.
Women's championship In the finals, the three time reigning champions, UC-Santa Barbara, were looking to claim their fourth straight title and fifth overall against finals debutants Texas. Coming into the finals, Texas would have to overcome a 1–0 deficit in the round of 16 against North Carolina, then would require penalties against UCLA in the quarterfinals and finally scored a game-winning second half goal in a 1–0 game against rivals Texas A&M in the semifinals. Meanwhile, after a dominant 4–0 victory in the round of 16 against Cornell, Florida, who won their first game in overtime, forfeited, sending UC-Santa Barbara directly to the semifinals against Penn State; a rematch of the previous tournament's finals. UC-Santa Barbara would also dominate this game, winning 3–0. In the finals, Emily Gross would open the scoring for Texas in the 10th minute, the first time UC-Santa Barbara would trail this tournament, and would remain at 1–0 until Kelsey Mulcahy of UC-Santa Barbara tied the game in the 55th minute. The score would remain tied after regulation and extra time, meaning the game would go to penalties. Texas would kick first and have their first attempt saved. The following four kicks would be converted, but UC-Santa Barbara would miss in the third round making the score 2–2. Both teams scored their attempts in the fourth and fifth rounds, meaning a sudden-death sixth round would be required. A block from UC-Santa Barbara's goalkeeper and a goal from Natalie Lemonnier would see UC-Santa Barbara win 4–3 on penalties, giving them their fifth national title and fourth straight. This victory also saw them be the only women's championship team with at least 5 titles, overtaking Colorado and Michigan who had 4 titles each, and became only the second team across all four divisions to win four straight tournaments (the first being BYU men's championship run from 1996 to 1999). UC-Santa Barbara's Tannia Hernandez would be named women's championship MVP.
Men's open In the finals, reigning champions JMU would face Cal Poly "B" in a rematch from Group A which Cal Poly "B" won 3–2. The game would be tied 1–1 at the end of regulation, meaning a 15-minute sudden victory overtime would be played. Cal Poly "B" would score and secure their first men's open title. Brian Romag of Cal Poly would go on to be named men's open MVP.
Women's open In the finals, 2001 women's open champions Colorado "Black" would face Illinois who were in their first open finals. Coming into the finals, Colorado "Black" had to beat Northeastern 2–1, then last year's runners-up Oregon 1–0. Meanwhile, Illinois had to beat Miami (FL) 4–3 then Missouri, the team who defeated reigning champs JMU, in a penalty shootout 4–3 after the game was tied 1–1 after regulation and extra time. In the finals, Illinois would score the lone goal of the match and claim their first women's open title. Illinois' Megan Reitz would be named women's open MVP.
Format The competition consisted of 80 teams: 48 championship division teams and 32 open division teams. Each of these divisions were further divided into two equal sized divisions for men and women. The championship division divided teams into eight groups of three teams each while the open division divided teams into four groups of four teams each, both engaging in a round-robin tournament that determined teams able to advance to a knockout stage. Pool play games were two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime and utilized the three points for a win system. After group stage play, the two highest ranked teams from each group advanced to their respective knockout stage. In the championship division, the third placed team advanced to a consolation bracket while in the open division, the third and fourth placed teams were eliminated. Tie-breaking criteria for group playThe ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria in order:
Highest number of points Winner of head-to-head competition Greatest goal difference Maximum ± 5 goal difference per match Most goals scored Most shutouts
In a tie breaking scenario involving more than 2 teams, the tiebreaker procedure would begin. If one team is identified as different and both remaining teams are still tied, the tie breaker procedure is restarted.
If a tie still remained after the first 5 criteria, the following was used to break a tie:
NCAA kicks from the mark If there was a three-way tie, a coin-flip would be conducted. The two teams that chose the same outcome would compete in kicks from the mark between each other. The winner would compete with the last remaining team in kicks from the mark If there's a four-way tie, a drawing of lots would be conducted (only could occur in open division) Knockout stage games also consisted of two 40-minute halves. The round of 16 and quarterfinals were separated by a seven-minute halftime while the semifinals and finals had a ten-minute halftime. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner, therefore if a game was tied at the end of regulation, one 15-minute, golden-goal overtime period would begin. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.
Qualification and selections Each of the six regions received three automatic bids for both the men's and women's championship that they awarded to its members. The final six bids were considered "at-large", and were given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on their regional tournament results and RPI.
The 32 remaining teams participated in the open division, chosen on a first-come first-serve basis online on September 22, 2010.
Men's championship +Automatic bidRegionTeamAppearanceLast BidIDelaware6th2009IPenn5th2008IUMass1stNeverIINorth Carolina9th2009IIFlorida5th2009IIUCF1stNeverIIIMichigan9th2009IIIWestern Michigan2nd2004IIICincinnati1stNeverIVTexas12th2007IVTexas A&M11th2009IVTexas Tech7th2007VColorado State14th2009VColorado11th2009VColorado Mines1stNeverVIWeber State10th2009VIArizona9th2008VIUCLA3rd2008 +At-large bidsRegionTeamAppearanceLast BidINavy8th2009IIVirginia6th2009IIINorthwestern1stNeverIVMissouri5th2009VMinnesota9th2009VICal Poly2nd2009 Source:
Women's championship +Automatic bidsRegionTeamAppearanceLast BidIPenn State16th2009IDelaware8th2009ICornell5th2009IIVirginia Tech10th2009IIVirginia5th2009IIIMichigan12th2009IIIOhio State10th2009IIIPurdue8th2005IVTexas A&M12th2009IVTexas11th2009IVBaylor7th2008VColorado16th2009VColorado State14th2009VIUC-Santa Barbara10th2009VIArizona6th2009VIArizona State1stNever +At-large bidsRegionTeamAppearanceLast BidIPitt1stNeverICollege of New Jersey2nd2009IIFlorida9th2009IINorth Carolina7th2008IIIMarquette2nd2009IVTexas State3rd2009VIUCLA4th2009VIUC-Berkeley2nd2004 Source:
Men's open +Participating teamsRegionNumTeam(s)I5Boston College, SUNY Cortland, Towson, UConn, VillanovaII3JMU, Miami (FL), Virginia TechIII0IV2Texas "B", KansasV4Fort Lewis, Iowa State, Colorado "Black", Air ForceVI2Cal Poly "B", Central Washington
Women's open RegionNumTeam(s)I4Boston College, Northeastern, Vermont, VillanovaII3JMU, Miami (FL), VanderbiltIII1IllinoisIV2Kansas, MissouriV2Iowa State, Colorado "Black"VI4Salt Lake CC, San Diego State, Oregon, Northern Arizona Source:
Group stage
Men's championship +Group APosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Texas A&M220030 +36Advanced to knockout stage2Weber State210132 +133Colorado Mines200204 −40Consolation
+Group BPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Western Michigan210121 +13Advanced to knockout stage2UCF210144033Minnesota210134 −13Consolation
+Group CPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Northwestern211052 +34Advanced to knockout stage2Texas211043 +143UCLA200237 −40Consolation
+Group DPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Florida220030 +36Advanced to knockout stage2Missouri210111033UMass200203 −30Consolation
+Group EPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Cincinnati220031 +26Advanced to knockout stage2Cal Poly210121 +133Delaware200214 −30Consolation
+Group FPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Michigan220052 +36Advanced to knockout stage2Virginia210133033Texas Tech200225 −30Consolation
+Group GPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1North Carolina220050 +56Advanced to knockout stage2Colorado210144033Penn200227 −50Consolation
+Group HPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Arizona211021 +14Advanced to knockout stage2Navy211031 +243Colorado State200203 −30Consolation
Women's championship +Group APosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1UC-Santa Barbara220071 +66Advanced to knockout stage2The College of New Jersey201102 −213Virginia Tech201115 −41Consolation
+Group BPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Marquette211043 +14Advanced to knockout stage2Virginia202033023Arizona State201123 −11Consolation
+Group CPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1UCLA220042 +26Advanced to knockout stage2Penn State210143 +133Purdue200203 −30Consolation
+Group DPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Texas A&M211043 +14Advanced to knockout stage2Cornell202011023Michigan201123 −11Consolation
+Group EPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Colorado211042 +24Advanced to knockout stage2Florida210154 +133Baylor201103 −31Consolation
+Group FPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Texas211054 +14Advanced to knockout stage2Pittsburgh202033023UC-Berkeley201112 −11Consolation
+Group GPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Arizona20202202Advanced to knockout stage2North Carolina202011023Colorado State20201102Consolation
+Group HPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Texas State211042 +24Advanced to knockout stage2Ohio State210145 −133Delaware201134 −11Consolation
Men's open +Group APosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Cal Poly “B”330092 +79Advanced to knockout stage2JMU320193 +663Boston College310237 −434Fort Lewis3003211 −90
+Group BPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Virginia Tech320152 +36Advanced to knockout stage2Colorado “Black”312021 +153Iowa State302113 −224SUNY Cortland302113 −22
+Group CPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Miami (FL)330081 +79Advanced to knockout stage2Texas “B”320153 +263Air Force310248 −434Villanova300327 −50
+Group DPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Kansas321040 +47Advanced to knockout stage2UConn312040 +453Towson300318 −704Central Washington311134 −14
Women's open +Group APosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1JMU3300143 +119Advanced to knockout stage2Kansas320146 −263Salt Lake CC310248 −434Villanova300327 −50
+Group BPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Oregon3300110 +109Advanced to knockout stage2Missouri320152 +363Boston College310224 −234Iowa State3003012 −110
+Group CPosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification1Illinois330081 +79Advanced to knockout stage2Northeastern320152 +363San Diego State310235 −234Vanderbilt300308 −80