| Year: | 2021 |
| Conference: | NCAA Division I |
| Gender: | men's |
| Teams: | 48 |
| Venue: | WakeMed Soccer Park (Semifinal and Final) |
| City: | Cary, North Carolina |
| Champions: | Clemson |
| Titlecount: | 3rd |
| Coach: | Mike Noonan |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | Isaiah Reid (offense) George Marks (defense) |
| Mvpteam: | Clemson |
| Broadcast: | ESPNU |
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.[1] [2]
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.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Qualification type | Previous appearances in tournament [3] | Previous best performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) | |||
| Am. East champions | Automatic | 10 (1975, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2007, 2015, 2016) | Quarterfinals (1989) | |||
| American champions | Automatic | 11 (1991, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) | Quarterfinals (2004, 2009) | |||
| ASUN champions | Automatic | 2 (2017, 2018) | First round (2017, 2018) | |||
| Atlantic 10 champions | Automatic | 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) | |||
| Big East champions | Automatic | 11 (1994, 1997, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) | Winners (2019) | |||
| Big South champions | Automatic | 3 (2007, 2018, 2019) | Second round (2019) | |||
| Big Ten champions | Automatic | 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 Barbara | Big West champions | Automatic | 13 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) | Winners (2006) | ||
| Hofstra | CAA champions | Automatic | 5 (1968, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2015) | Second round (2004, 2006, 2015) | ||
| Kentucky | C-USA champions | Automatic | 11 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020) | Quarterfinals (2018) | ||
| Oakland | Horizon champions | Automatic | 7 (2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015) | Second round (2007, 2014) | ||
| Princeton | Ivy champions | Automatic | 10 (1977, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2018) | Semifinals (1993) | ||
| Marist | MAAC champions | Automatic | 2 (2004, 2005) | First round (2004, 2005) | ||
| Northern Illinois | MAC champions | Automatic | 3 (1973, 2006, 2011) | Round of 16 (2011) | ||
| Missouri State | MVC champions | Automatic | 5 (1997, 1999, 2009, 2019, 2020) | Round of 16 (2020) | ||
| LIU | NEC champions | Automatic | 15 (1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 2004, 2015, 2018) | Runners-Up (1966) | ||
| Oregon State | Pac-12 champions | Automatic | 5 (2002, 2003, 2014, 2018, 2020) | Second round (2014) | ||
| Loyola (MD) | Patriot champions | Automatic | 8 (1986, 1987, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009) | Quarterfinals (1986, 1987) | ||
| Mercer | SoCon champions | Automatic | 4 (2001, 2016, 2017, 2019) | First round (2001, 2016, 2017, 2019) | ||
| Denver | Summit champions | Automatic | 9 (1970, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) | Semifinals (2016) | ||
| Seattle | WAC champions | Automatic | 4 (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) | Round of 16 (2015) | ||
| Santa Clara | WCC champions | Automatic | 20 (1973, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2015) | Winners (1989) | ||
| Washington | No. 1 RPI | At-large | 27 (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) | ||
| Duke | No. 4 RPI | At-large | 27 (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) | ||
| Pittsburgh | No. 7 RPI | At-large | 4 (1962, 1965, 2019, 2020) | Semifinals (2020) | ||
| Clemson | No. 9 RPI | At-large | 33 (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 Hampshire | No. 11 RPI | At-large | 5 (1994, 2017, 2018, 2019,2020) | Round of 16 (2017) | ||
| Grand Canyon | No. 12 RPI | At-large | 2 (2019, 2020) | Second round (2020) | ||
| No. 13 RPI | At-large | 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) | |||
| Providence | No. 15 RPI | At-large | 10 (1983, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019) | Semifinals (2014) | ||
| Marshall | No. 17 RPI | At-large | 2 (2019, 2020) | Winners (2020) | ||
| FIU | No. 18 RPI | At-large | 10 (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2015, 2017) | Runners-up (1996) | ||
| West Virginia | No. 19 RPI | At-large | 14 (1966, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1981, 1992, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019) | Quarterfinals (1981) | ||
| North Carolina | No. 20 RPI | At-large | 27 (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) | ||
| Maryland | No. 22 RPI | At-large | 38 (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 Tech | No. 24 RPI | At-large | 9 (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) | Semifinals (2007) | ||
| UCLA | No. 25 RPI | At-large | 45 (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) | ||
| Creighton | No. 26 RPI | At-large | 24 (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) | ||
| Akron | No. 27 RPI | At-large | 29 (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) | ||
| Villanova | No. 28 RPI | At-large | 1 (2016) | First round (2016) | ||
| St. John's | No. 29 RPI | At-large | 21 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019) | Winners (1996) | ||
| Portland | No. 32 RPI | At-large | 16 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2016, 2018) | Semifinals (1988, 1995) | ||
| Louisville | No. 33 RPI | At-large | 12 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) | Runners-up (2010) | ||
| Wake Forest | No. 34 RPI | At-large | 24 (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) | ||
| Charlotte | No. 35 RPI | At-large | 15 (1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020) | Runners-up (2011) | ||
| Georgia State | No. 36 RPI | At-large | 2 (2011, 2018) | First round (2011, 2018) | ||
| Bowling Green | No. 49 RPI | At-large | 7 (1972, 1973, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2020) | Round of 16 (1972, 1973, 1996, 1997) |
| Seeded teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | United Soccer Coaches ranking | RPI ranking[4] | |
| 1 | Oregon State | 7–1–2 | 12–2–3 | Automatic | 1st | 2nd | |
| 2 | Washington | 6–1–2 | 14–1–2 | At-Large | 3rd | 1st | |
| 3 | Georgetown | 8–2–0 | 16–2–0 | Automatic | 7th | 3rd | |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 4–2–2 | 12–5–3 | Automatic | 20th | 5th | |
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 5–2–1 | 11–5–1 | At-Large | 5th | 7th | |
| 6 | Tulsa | 8–1–1 | 15–1–1 | Automatic | 2nd | 6th | |
| 7 | Duke | 5–2–1 | 13–4–1 | At-Large | 11th | 4th | |
| 8 | Clemson | 5–3–0 | 13–5–0 | At-Large | 9th | 9th | |
| 9 | Kentucky | 3–1–4 | 14–1–4 | Automatic | 15th | 8th | |
| 10 | Saint Louis | 8–0–0 | 14–0–4 | Automatic | 8th | 14th | |
| 11 | West Virginia | 4–1–1 | 11–2–4 | At-Large | 21st | 19th | |
| 12 | Penn State | 6–2–0 | 13–6–1 | Automatic | 24th | 21st | |
| 13 | FIU | 7–0–1 | 12–3–2 | At-Large | 14th | 18th | |
| 14 | Marshall | 5–1–2 | 11–3–3 | At-Large | 4th | 17th | |
| 15 | Indiana | 5–3–0 | 14–5–1 | At-Large | 17th | 13th | |
| 16 | New Hampshire | 7–0–1 | 16–1–2 | At-Large | 6th | 11th | |
The bracket was announced on Monday, November 15, 2021. First round games will be played on November 18 at campus sites.[5]
Host Institution*
Host Institution*
Host Institution*
Host Institution*
See main article: 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship Game.
| Conference | Bids | Record | Pct. | R32 | R16 | E8 | F4 | CG | NC | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | 8 | 11–4–5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Big East | 5 | 7–5–1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | ||||||
| Pac-12 | 3 | 7–2–1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | |||||||
| Atlantic 10 | 1 | 2–1–0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | |||||
| MAC | 5 | 4–5–1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | |||||
| America East | 2 | 1–2–0 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | ||||
| American | 1 | 1–1–0 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | ||||
| Big Ten | 3 | 1–3–0 | 2 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | ||||
| CAA | 1 | 2–1–0 | 1 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | ||||
| C-USA | 4 | 1–4–0 | 3 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | ||||
| WCC | 2 | 2–2–0 | 2 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | |||
| NEC | 1 | 1–1–0 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | |||
| Summit | 1 | 1–1–0 | 1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | |||
| 10 Others | 11 | 0–10–1 | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – | data-sort-value="-1" | – |