2015 NCAA Division I men's soccer season

The 2015 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 57th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 28 and continues into November 2015. The season culminated with the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in December 2015. There were 206 teams in men's Division I competition. The defending champions were Virginia who defeated UCLA 0–0 (4–2 PKs) to win its seventh NCAA soccer title. The season concluded with Stanford defeating Clemson 4–0 to win its first championship.

Changes from 2014

Coaching changes ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointment Campbell Steve Armas Hired as an assistant at Wake Forest May 7, 2015 Dustin Fonder June 9, 2015 Cal Poly Phil Ruskin Interim, not retained Was not announced Steve Sampson December 4, 2014 Denver Bobby Muuss Head coach at Wake Forest January 8, 2015 Jamie Franks January 30, 2015 Drake Sean Holmes Fired August 28, 2015 Gareth Smith (Interim) August 28, 2015 Eastern Illinois Mark Hansen Not retained Was not announced Kiki Lara March 10, 2015 Evansville Mike Jacobs Resigned November 2014 Marshall Ray December 8, 2014 Grand Canyon Petar Draksin Relieved of duties December 11, 2014 Schellas Hyndman January 13, 2015 Green Bay Dan Popik Resigned November 2014 Jeremy Bonomo March 8, 2015 High Point Dustin Fonder Head coach at Campbell June 9, 2015 EJ O'Keeffe July 22, 2015 James Madison Dr. Tom Martin Retired September 22, 2014 Tom Foley January 8, 2015 UMass Devin O'Neill Interim not retained/to Western New England March 5, 2015 Fran O'Leary February 11, 2015 UNC Asheville Matt Kern Contract not renewed November 20, 2014 Mathes Mennell February 11, 2015 St. Bonaventure Mel Mahler Resigned November 20, 2014 Kwame Oduro December 18, 2015 SIU Edwardsville David Korn & Brian Jones Interim Co-head to Associate head coachInterim Co-head to Assistant, Saint Louis FC December 5, 2014 Mario Sanchez January 27, 2015 SMU Tim McClements Contract not renewed January 9, 2015 Kevin Hudson January 9, 2015 VMI Richie Rose Resigned November 19, 2015 Jon Freeman January 7, 2015 Wake Forest Jay Vidovich Head coach for the Portland Timbers 2 December 18, 2014 Bobby Muuss January 8, 2015 Yale Brian Tompkins Moved to administration August 2014 Kylie Stannard December 29, 2014

New programs The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), created for the 2015–16 school year with the merger of the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA) and University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB), added the sport to the Division I athletic program it inherited from UTPA. Although UTB had a highly successful NAIA men's soccer team, the UTRGV program was created essentially from scratch, with an entirely new coaching staff and only two UTB players remaining in the UTRGV program. UTRGV also inherited UTPA's membership in the Western Athletic Conference.

Discontinued programs

None.

Conference realignment

SchoolPrevious ConferenceNew Conference Northern Kentucky Atlantic Sun Conference Horizon League

NJIT, previously the only Division I basketball independent, played the 2014 season as a single-sport member of the Sun Belt Conference. Although NJIT replaced Northern Kentucky in the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun) in July 2015, the men's soccer team remained in the Sun Belt for the 2015 season due to contractual commitments to that league. NJIT men's soccer will join the A-Sun in 2016.

Additionally, the 2015 season was the last for Coastal Carolina in the Big South Conference. The Chanticleers will join the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2016, in all sports except football, with that team joining the conference a year later. The arrival of Coastal Carolina will maintain the Sun Belt at six men's soccer members, preserving the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth.

Season overview

Pre-season polls Several American soccer outlets posted their own preseason top 25 rankings of what were believed to be the strongest men's collegiate soccer teams entering 2015. NSCAARankTeam1 UCLA2 Virginia3 Georgetown4 Notre Dame5 North Carolina6 Creighton7 Providence8 Stanford9 Michigan State10 Washington11 Clemson12 UMBC13 Maryland14 Indiana15 Syracuse16 California17 Charlotte18 Louisville19 Xavier20 UC Irvine21 Coastal Carolina22 Saint Louis23 Penn State24 Old Dominion25 Akron College Soccer NewsRankTeam1 UCLA2 Virginia3 Georgetown4 Creighton5 Stanford6 Providence7 Notre Dame8 Washington9 Maryland10 North Carolina11 Clemson12 Indiana13 Michigan State14 Charlotte15 Louisville16 California17 UC Irvine18 Xavier19 Syracuse20 UMBC21 Coastal Carolina22 Old Dominion23 Saint Louis24 Akron25 Penn State Soccer AmericaRankTeam1 UCLA2 Virginia3 Georgetown4 Stanford5 Creighton6 Maryland7 Providence8 Clemson9 North Carolina10 Notre Dame11 Louisville12 Washington13 Indiana14 California15 Charlotte16 Syracuse17 UC Santa Barbara18 UC Irvine19 Akron20 Coastal Carolina21 UConn22 Xavier23 Penn State24 Delaware25 Old Dominion Top Drawer SoccerRankTeam1 Virginia2 UCLA3 Georgetown4 Stanford5 Creighton6 North Carolina7 Notre Dame8 Michigan State9 California10 Louisville11 UC Irvine12 Maryland13 Clemson14 Kentucky15 Penn State16 Xavier17 Charlotte18 Indiana19 Saint Louis20 Washington21 Monmouth22Coastal Carolina23 Syracuse24 Providence25 UMBC

Regular season

Weekly NSCAA #1 ranked teamDateTeamDateTeamDateTeamDateTeam August 3 (preseason) UCLANone until after season starts September 1 UCLA September 8 Creighton September 15 Creighton September 22 Creighton September 29 Creighton October 6 Creighton October 13 Creighton October 20 Creighton October 27 Creighton November 3 Wake Forest November 10 Wake Forest November 17 Wake ForestNone until after tournament December 15 Stanford

Standings

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 #15 or higher.

Date Winner Score Loser August 28 @ UC Santa Barbara 1–0 #8 Stanford August 30 @ Oregon State 1–0 #9 Michigan State August 31 @ South Florida 2–0 #3 Georgetown September 3 @ Lipscomb 2–1 #10 Xavier September 4 Akron 1–0 @ #12 Georgetown September 4 @ Omaha 1–0 # 13 UC Irvine September 6 Virginia Tech 3–1 @ #10 Xavier September 7 Akron 3–2 @ #6 Maryland September 13 UC Riverside 2–1 @ #8 UCLA September 13 @ Penn State 1–0 #10 Indiana September 15 Xavier 1–0 @ #2 Notre Dame September 15 #20 Elon 1–0 @ #7 Wake Forest September 17 @ Portland1–0#8 Oregon State September 22 @ South Carolina 3–1 #8 Elon September 22 @ Gonzaga 2–1 #13 Oregon State September 23 @ #25 Georgetown 2–1 #11 Maryland September 24 @ Seattle 2–1 #10 Washington September 25 @ South Carolina 2–1 #7 New Mexico September 25 Seattle 2–1 @ #13 Oregon State September 30 @ William & Mary 4–1 #10 Elon October 4 UCLA 3–2 @ #15 Washington October 9 @ Boston College 2–1 #10 Virginia October 11 @ UNC Asheville 3–2 #4 Coastal Carolina October 14 @ Sacramento State 5–2 #14 UC Santa Barbara October 17 @ FIU 2–1 #9 Old Dominion October 17 @ Cal Poly 3–2 (2ot) #14 UC Santa Barbara October 20 @ Duke 2–1 (ot) #10 Elon October 28 Xavier 2–1 @ #1 Creighton October 30 @ Boston College 2–1 #12 Syracuse October 31 @ UConn 2–1 (ot) #11 South Florida October 31 @ South Carolina 3–1 #13 Old Dominion November 1 #25 UCLA 4–2 @ #6 Akron October 2 @ Washington 2–1 #4 Stanford

Statistics

Individuals

GOALSRankScorerSchoolGamesGoals 1 David Olsen Seattle2316 Gordon Wild USC Upstate1516 3 Nick DePuy UC Santa Barbara2315 Bradley Farias Campbell1915 Fabian Herbers Creighton2315 6 Danny Musovski UNLV2014 7 Amass Amankona Dayton2313 Neco Brett Robert Morris1813 Sivert Daehlie Radford1913 Jorge Gomez Sanchez Temple1813 Max Hasenstab Winthrop1813 Willy Miezan Longwood1913 Jordan Morris Stanford1813 Colin Phillips Duquesne1813 Thomas Sanner Princeton1713 Mac Steeves Providence1813 Jason Wright Rutgers2113

Last update on December 14, 2015.

GOALS AGAINST AVERAGERankKeeperSchoolGamesMinutesGAGAA 1 Drew Shepherd Western Michigan1311014.327 2 Tim Dobrowolski Loyola Chicago1918068.399 3 Dan Jackson Denver1917948.401 4 Jack Binks St. Francis Brooklyn1817698.407 5 Kyle Dal Santo SIUE1816529.490 6 Logan Keys LIU Brooklyn1413578.530 7 Stefan Cleveland Dartmouth1512979.625 8 Dallas Jaye Xavier1412899.628 9 Ryan Herman Washington18171112.631 10 Andrew Epstein Stanford23213815.631 Last update on December 14, 2015.

ASSISTSRankPlayerSchoolGamesAssists 1 Fabian Herbers Creighton2317 2 Corey Baird Stanford2313 2 Joey Piatczyc West Virginia1913 Eric Verso Stanford2313 5 Kwame Awuah UConn2212 Mael Corboz Maryland2312 Aaron Meyer Utah Valley1912 8 Julian Büscher Syracuse2511 Julian Gressel Providence1811 Jack Harrison Wake Forest1911 Alex Muyl Georgetown2111 Adam Najem Akron2411 Liam Robley American2011