2004 NIRSA National Soccer Championship explained

2004 NIRSA National Soccer Championship
League:NIRSA
Sport:Soccer
Prevseason Year:2003
Hosts Alt:Site
Hosts:
Initial Tournament
Whitaker Fields at University of Texas in Austin, Texas

Continuations
Men's championship:
Red Mountain Soccer Complex
Mesa, Arizona
Remaining divisions:
Cancelled
Duration:
Initial Tournament
November 18–20, 2004
Continuations
Men's championship:
January 8, 2005
Remaining divisions:
Cancelled
No Of Teams:24 (Men's championship)
16 (Women's championship)
20 (Men's open)
20 (Women's open)
Picked By Team:Results
Season:Men's Championship Division
League Champ Name:Champion
League Champs:Texas A&M (6 points)
(1st title, 1st title game)
Second Place:Colorado State (3 points)
(1st title game)
Third Place:UC-Berkeley (0 points)
(1st title game)
Fourth Place:North Carolina
(Did not attend)
Mvp:Bill Besancon (Texas A&M)
Season2:Women's Championship Division
Season Champ2 Name:Semifinalists
(All declared joint winners)
Season Champs2:Colorado (4th title, 5th title game)
Michigan (3rd title, 4th title game)
Colorado State(3rd title, 3rd title game)
UC-Santa Barbara (1st title, 2nd title game)
Season3:Men's Open Division
Season Champ3 Name:Semifinalists
(None declared winners)
Season Champs3:Iowa State, Virginia, Penn State, LMU
Season4:Women's Open Division
Season Champs4:Cancelled
Seasonslist:NIRSA National Soccer Championships
Seasonslistnames:NIRSA national soccer championships
Prevseason Link:2003 NIRSA National Soccer Championship
Nextseason Link:2005 NIRSA National Soccer Championship
Nextseason Year:2005

The 2004 NIRSA national soccer championship, also referred to as the NIRSA Collegiate Soccer Sport Club championship, was the 11th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at the Whitaker Fields at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas from Thursday, November 18 to Saturday, November 20, 2004. The tournament would get rained out before a champion could be crowned in any division. The only division to have a continuation to the tournament was the men's championship division which took place at the Red Mountain Soccer Complex in Mesa, Arizona on January 8, 2005.[1]

Overview

Heavy rains in Austin, Texas on the preceding Monday and Tuesday resulted in the tournament staff postponing the tournament from the initial start date of Thursday to Friday to allow the fields more time to dry. However, the tournament would not be extended, meaning the games would be shortened from 40 minute halves to 25 minute halves.[2] Despite best efforts, at approximately noon on Saturday, a thunderstorm passed through which not only further flooded the already wet fields but also created a safety hazard with the lightning. Ultimately, the initial tournament would get cancelled, marking the first time this has ever occurred in the NIRSA national championships.[3]

Prior to the cancellation

In the men's championship division, by the quarterfinals, no teams remaining had previously made the finals while the men's open division had no previous champions. Meanwhile, the women's championship division only had one team remaining who had not previously won at least 2 titles, UC-Santa Barbara, who had only ever made the finals once, in 2001, where they lost to Penn State who in this tournament, was eliminated in the group stage following a 3-way tie on points and a 2-way tie on goal difference.[4] Despite this, UC-Santa Barbara would eventually go on to become the winningest team in the women's championship division. The women's open championship was the only division to not finish at least the quarterfinals, the remaining teams were LSU, Illinois, Texas, UC-Davis, Colorado "Black", Northern Colorado, Virginia Tech, and UCLA.

Continuation

Following the cancellation, each division was able to decide how to move forward. Both open divisions and the men's championship consolation bracket elected to not declare a winner while the women's championship decided to elect all four remaining teams as co-champions.[5] The only division who was able to organize a continuation tournament was the men's championship division who had three of the four remaining teams agree to a tournament in Mesa, Arizona on January 8, 2005. Despite choosing Arizona as the host site to mitigate the risk of rain, Mesa would receive, what was described as, "their total annual rainfall for 2005" in the week preceding the tournament, flooding the fields. Luckily, the fields would dry in time for the tournament to go on as scheduled.

Since North Carolina elected not to participate, the teams decided that a round-robin would be the best solution to finishing the tournament. Each team would play each other once with each game requiring a winner and the team with the best record would be crowned champion. The remaining teams were Texas A&M, Colorado State, and UC-Berkeley, none of which had ever made the finals.

In the opening match, Colorado State would defeat UC-Berkeley 2–0. The following match, Texas A&M would beat Colorado State 1–0, meaning if Texas A&M won their final match they'd be champions but if they lost a three-way penalty shootout would ensue to determine the champion. Texas A&M would go on to win their final match 2–0 and be crowned national champions for the first time. This result also meant Colorado State would finish 2nd and UC-Berkeley finishing 3rd. Following the tournament, Bill Besançon would be named men's championship MVP.

Format

The competition consisted of 80 teams: 40 championship teams and 40 open teams. The divisions were further divided into a men's and women's division: 24 men's and 16 women's teams in the championship division as well as 20 men's and 20 women's teams in the open division. The divisions were then further divided into groups: eight groups of three teams in the men's championship, four groups of four teams each in the women's championship division, and five groups of four teams each in the men's and women's open divisions.

All four divisions engaged in a round-robin tournament that determined teams able to advance to a knockout stage. Each team played every other team in their group once in pool play which consisted of two 40-minute halves separated by a seven-minute halftime and utilized the three points for a win system. After pool play, the two highest ranked teams from each group in the men's and women's championship divisions advanced to their respective knockout stage, with the third placed team in the men's championship advancing to a consolation bracket. The top ranked team in the men's and women's open divisions advanced to their respective knockout stage in addition to the next three highest ranked wild card teams (a max of two teams per group could advance)

Knockout stage games also consisted of two 40-minute halves with the round of 16 and quarterfinals separated by a seven-minute halftime and 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 in the round of sixteen or quarterfinals, no more than two five-minute sudden victory overtime periods would be played, while in the semifinals and finals, no more than two ten-minute sudden victory overtime periods would be played. Teams would change ends after the conclusion of the first overtime period. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.[6] [7]

Qualification and selections

Each of the six regions were able to hand out three automatic bids for the men's championship division and two automatic bids for the women's championship division. The final 6 bids for the men's championship division and final 4 bids for the women's championship were given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on their regional tournament results and RPI.

The remaining teams participated in the open division, chosen on a first-come first-serve basis via online registration beginning on September 1, 2004. Initially, it was stated that there would be a max of 16 teams per gender division but 20 teams per division would be allowed to participate.[8]

Men's championship

Participating teams!Region!Team!Appearance!Last Bid
ICornell5th2003
INavy5th2003
IDelaware3rd2003
IPenn1stNever
IINorth Carolina4th2001
IIFlorida2nd1998
IIGeorgia Tech2nd2000
IIVanderbilt2nd2002
IIIMiami (OH)5th2001
IIIMichigan State2nd2003
IIIDayton1stNever
IIIWestern Michigan1stNever
IVTexas10th2003
IVKansas5th2003
IVTexas A&M5th2003
IVOklahoma2nd1994
VColorado State10th2003
VColorado6th2003
VMinnesota4th2003
VIWeber State6th2003
VIArizona5th2003
VIUtah Valley State3rd2003
VIUC Berkeley2nd2003
VIUC Santa Barabara2nd2001

Women's championship

Participating teams!Region!Team!Appearance!Last Bid
IPenn State11th2003
IDelaware4th2001
IPrinceton2nd2002
IIJMU8th2003
IIFlorida5th2003
IIVirginia2nd2003
IIIMiami (OH)11th2003
IIIMichigan6th2003
IIIMichigan State3rd2002
IIIIndiana2nd2000
IVTexas A&M7th2003
IVBaylor5th2003
VColorado11th2003
VColorado State8th2003
VIUC-Santa Barbara5th2003
VIUC-Berkeley1stNever

Men's open

RegionNumTeam
I1Penn State
II5UCF, Duke, Florida State, JMU, Virginia
III1Southern Illinois
IV4New Mexico State, Texas A&M "B", Texas Southern, Texas State
V4Colorado "Black", Iowa State, Nebraska, North Dakota State
VI5Arizona State, Central Washington, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Snow College

Women's open

RegionNumTeam
I3Cornell, Vermont, Yale
II4NC State, Richmond, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
III3Illinois, Ohio State, Western Michigan
IV2LSU, Texas
V6Colorado "Black", Colorado School of the Mines, Colorado State "Green", Iowa State, Kansas, Northern Colorado
VI2UC-Davis, UCLA
Source:[9]

Group stage

Men's championship

Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1UC-Santa Barbara211021+14Advanced to knockout stage
2Navy20204402
3Western Michigan201134−11Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Texas A&M220061+56Advanced to knockout stage
2Colorado210121+13
3Florida200217−60Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Weber State211010+14Advanced to knockout stage
2Georgia Tech20202202
3Dayton201123−11Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Minnesota211042+24Advanced to knockout stage
2Vanderbilt211032+14
3Oklahoma200225−30Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Texas211010+14Advanced to knockout stage
2Cornell211010+14
3Arizona200202−20Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1North Carolina220081+76Advanced to knockout stage
2Michigan State201124−21
3Delaware201116−51Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Penn211031+24Advanced to knockout stage
2Kansas20201102
3Utah Valley State201102−21Consolation
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Colorado State211021+14Advanced to knockout stage
2UC-Berkeley20200002
3Miami (OH)201112−11Consolation

Women's championship

Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Michigan312031+25Advanced to knockout stage
2Florida312043+15
3Penn State312021+15
4Texas A&M300337−40
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Colorado312052+35Advanced to knockout stage
2UC-Berkeley312032+15
3Indiana31114404
4Virginia301215−41
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1UC-Santa Barbara330080+89Advanced to knockout stage
2JMU320142+26
3Michigan State310236−33
4Princeton300318−70
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Colorado State321062+47Advanced to knockout stage
2Delaware320154+16
3Miami (OH)31112204
4Baylor300327−50
--------

Men's open

Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Texas State211042+37Advanced to knockout stage
2Loyola Marymount (LMU)210143+26
3Colorado "Black"201114−24
4Florida StateDid not attend (All teams given 3 points and +1 goal difference)
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Virginia321051+47Advanced to knockout stage
2Southern Illinois (SIU)320154+16
3Arizona State31112204
4Texas Southern300316−50
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Iowa State321050+57Advanced to knockout stage
2Central Washington312021+15
3UCF302112−12
4North Dakota State301205−51
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Penn State321051+47Advanced to knockout stage
2Texas A&M "B"321052+37
3JMU310254+13
4Snow College300319−80
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Long Beach State312043+15Advanced to knockout stage
2Nebraska312021+15
3UTEP302178−12
4Duke302134−12
--------

Women's open

Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1LSU330071+69Advanced to knockout stage
2Colorado State "Green"31115504
3Yale302123−12
4NC State301205−51
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1UC-Davis320143+16Advanced to knockout stage
2Virginia Tech312043+15
3Western Michigan31111104
4Iowa State301213−21
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Texas320143+16Advanced to knockout stage
2Northern Colorado320123−16
3Cornell31023303
4Kansas31022203
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1UCLA320151+46Advanced to knockout stage
2Colorado Mines31113304
3Ohio State31112204
4Vermont310215−43
--------
Pos! style="width:13em"
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Colorado "Black"321072+57Advanced to knockout stage
2Illinois321042+27
3Vanderbilt310235−23
4Richmond300327−50
--------Sources:[10] [11]

Tournament bracket

Men's championship

Men's consolation

Women's open

Source:[12]

Tournament Continuation

The 24 teams that did not finish play (semifinalists in men's championship, women's championship, men's open, and men's consolation as well as quarterfinalists for women's open) in November 2004 were offered the opportunity to complete their bracket in Mesa, Arizona on Saturday, January 8, 2005. In order for the tournament to be held, at least 75% of the teams remaining in each division would need to agree to play. The only division that accomplished this was the men's championship that fielded 3 of the 4 remaining teams: Colorado State, UC-Berkeley, and Texas A&M. North Carolina elected not to participate in the continuation and finished fourth by default. The women's championship division decided to declare all four semifinalists national champions while the remaining divisions elected instead for a decision of no contest with no champion being declared, the first time in any division where this occurred.

Format

All teams were only allowed to use players that were certified on their original rosters. Since not all of the four teams were able to attend, a 3-team round robin was used to determine a champion. All games consisted of 40 minute halves, separated by a ten-minute half-time. Games that ended in a tie after regulation would go into a two ten-minute sudden victory overtime periods, changing ends after the conclusion of the first overtime period. If still tied, penalty kicks would determine a winner. Following the round robin, the champion would be the team with the best record using the 3 points for a win system.

Competition

PosTeamPldWLPtsFinish
1Texas A&M2206Champions
2Colorado State2113Runner up
3UC-Berkeley2020Third place
4North CarolinaDid not attendFourth place
Source:[13]

All tournament teams

Men's championship

NameTeam
Bill Besançon (MVP)Texas A&M
Jonathan MillsNorth Carolina
Austin CollinsNorth Carolina
John LerchUC-Berkeley
Bryon WingetUC-Berkeley
Aaron OgorzalekColorado State
Andrew DelmenhorsColorado State
Chris TaylorColorado State
David YeagerTexas A&M
Oscar AlmeidaTexas A&M
Matt YeagerTexas A&M
Tim WhiteTexas A&M
Source:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2005-01-21 . '04 Soccer Sport Club Tourney: Championships Finish Play in Arizona . NIRSA Know.
  2. News: 2004-11-24 . Central soccer plays three matches today . Ellensburg Daily Record . A6.
  3. Web site: Soccer Sport Club Championships Drenched in Austin . NIRSA Know.
  4. Web site: Fiorenzo . Kevin . 2004-11-23 . W. club soccer falls short in NIRSA championships . 2024-06-02 . The Daily Collegian . en.
  5. Web site: Vandevusse . David . 2005-11-07 . Women's soccer used to success . 2024-05-28 . The Michigan Daily . en-US.
  6. Web site: 2004 NIRSA Collegiate Soccer Sport Club Championships Essential Information . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050207181740/http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/essential.htm . 2005-02-07 . NIRSA.
  7. Web site: 2004 NIRSA Collegiate Soccer Sport Club Championships Tournament Information . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050131133322/http://www.nirsa.net/pdf/sc_soccer_touney_info.pdf . 2005-01-31 . NIRSA.
  8. Web site: List of Teams . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050207184523/http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/teams.htm . 2005-02-07 . NIRSA.
  9. Web site: McCutcheon . Valerie . 2004-11-03 . 2004 NIRSA Collegiate Soccer Sport Club Championships Newsletter . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050131150426/http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/newsletter.pdf . 2005-01-31 . NIRSA.
  10. Web site: Tournament Pools . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050210032642/http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/pool.htm . 2005-02-10 . NIRSA.
  11. Web site: 2004 NIRSA Collegiate Soccer Sport Club Championships Tournament Schedule . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050208063048/http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/schedule.pdf . 2005-02-08 . NIRSA.
  12. Web site: Brackets . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050210031439/http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/brackets.htm . 2005-02-10 . NIRSA.
  13. Web site: 2004 Tournament Continuation Information . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20051028055340/http://nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2004/continuation.htm . 2005-10-28 . NIRSA.