In association football, or soccer, scoring a goal is the only method of scoring. The method of passing the ball to the goalscorer is considered an assist. In National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I soccer, where a player's career is at most four seasons long, it is considered a notable achievement to reach the 40-assist threshold. In even rarer instances, players have reached the 50 and 60-assist plateaus (no player has ever scored 70 or more goals at the Division I level).
The top 25 highest assisters in NCAA Division I men's soccer history are listed below. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions format until August 1973. From 1959 to 1971, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (ISFA). Then, from 1972 to 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)".
Below is a list of the top goalscorers in NCAA Division I men's soccer history.
| Pos. | DF | MF | FW | Ref. |
| Position | Defender | Midfielder | Forward | References |
| -- | - | ^ | Player still active in NCAA Division I --> |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame | |||
| Team (X) | Denotes the number of times a player from that team appears on the list | ||
| Nat. | width=20% | Player | Pos. | Team | Career start | Career end | Matches played | Assists provided | APG | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 United States | Dante Washington | FW | Radford | 1988 | 1992 | 88 | 66 | 0.750 | ||
| Ted Rafalovich | MF | Stanford | 1978 | 1981 | 85 | 62 | 0.729 | |||
 Cape Verde | Pedro DeBrito | MF | Connecticut | 1978 | 1981 | 100 | 59 | 0.590 | ||
 Nigeria | Chris Ogu | MF | NC State | 1980 | 1983 | 79 | 55 | 0.696 | ||
| Mike Fisher | FW | Virginia | 1993 | 1996 | 94 | 55 | 0.585 | |||
| Aleks Mihalović | MF | Jacksonville | 1975 | 1978 | 66 | 54 | 0.818 | |||
| United States | Chris Goos | MF | UNC Greensboro | 1999 | 2002 | 83 | 53 | 0.634 | ||
| Richard Mulrooney | DF | Creighton | 1995 | 1998 | 85 | 51 | 0.600 | |||
 Bolivia, Plurination;al State of | Maurizio Rocha | MF | Connecticut (2) | 1995 | 1998 | 85 | 51 | 0.600 | ||
| United States | Guillermo Jara | FW | San Diego | 1992 | 1995 | 81 | 48 | 0.593 | ||
| United States | Eric Eichmann | FW | Clemson | 1983 | 1986 | 88 | 47 | 0.534 | ||
| United States | Toby Taitano | FW | San Diego (2) | 1990 | 1993 | 84 | 47 | 0.560 | ||
| United States | Adam Pintz | FW | Cleveland State | 1955 | 1959 | 38 | 46 | 1.211 | ||
| United States | Doug Yearwood | FW | Georgia State | 1981 | 1984 | 70 | 46 | 0.657 | ||
| Aris Bogdaneris | DF | South Florida | 1983 | 1986 | 80 | 46 | 0.575 | |||
| United States | Bruce Murray | FW | Clemson (2) | 1984 | 1987 | 84 | 46 | 0.548 | ||
| United States | Sean Shapert | FW | Indiana | 1986 | 1989 | 86 | 46 | 0.535 | ||
| Matt McKeon | FW | Saint Louis | 1992 | 1995 | 84 | 46 | 0.548 | |||
| United States | Thomas Kain | MF | Duke | 1982 | 1985 | 88 | 45 | 0.511 | ||
| United States | Steve Klein | MF | Bowling Green | 1993 | 1996 | 79 | 45 | 0.570 | ||
 Jamaica | Andy Williams | MF | Rhode Island | 1994 | 1997 | 66 | 45 | 0.682 | ||
| United States | Ben Ferry | FW | George Washington | 1994 | 1998 | 63 | 45 | 0.714 | ||
| United States | Joe Casucci | FW | Niagara | 1969 | 1972 | 48 | 44 | 0.917 | ||
| United States | Eric Price | MF | UC Santa Barbara | 1978 | 1982 | 60 | 44 | 0.733 | ||
| United States | Todd Lindh | MF | Wofford | 1979 | 1982 | 63 | 44 | 0.698 | ||
| United States | Billy Owens | MF | William & Mary | 1992 | 1995 | 90 | 44 | 0.489 | ||
| United States | Damian Silvera | MF | Virginia (2) | 1992 | 1995 | 98 | 44 | 0.449 |