The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament (also known as the 2016 College Cup) was the 58th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's collegiate soccer. The first, second, third, and quarterfinal rounds were held at college campus sites across the United States during November and December 2016, with host sites determined by seeding and record. The four-team College Cup finals was played at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas on December 9 and 11, 2016.
The Stanford Cardinal successfully defended their 2015 title. Stanford played the North Carolina Tar Heels to a scoreless draw in the semifinals before winning a penalty shootout, 10–9, to advance to the Championship game. The Cardinal then also tied the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 0–0, in the final before claiming the back-to-back title with another penalty shootout victory, 5–4.
Stanford tied the NCAA record for the Lowest Goals-Against Average in the Tournament (Minimum 3 Games) of 0.00 by becoming the fourth team to not allow their opponents to score a goal in the tournament. The other three co-record-holders are the 1976 San Francisco Dons, the 1995 Wisconsin Badgers, and the 2009 Akron Zips.
Qualification
All Division I men's soccer programs except for Grand Canyon, Incarnate Word, and UMass Lowell will be eligible to qualify for the tournament. Those three programs are ineligible because they are in transition from Division II to Division I. The tournament field remains fixed at 48 teams.
Of the 24 schools that had previously won the championship, 13 qualified for this year's tournament.
Format As in previous editions of the NCAA Division I Tournament, the tournament features 48 participants out of a possible field of 203 teams. Of the 48 berths, 24 are allocated to the 21 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 24 berths are supposed to be 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 names 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.
Seeded teamsSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeNSCAA RankingRPI Ranking 1 Maryland Big Ten 18–0–2 Tournament Champion 1 1 2 Wake Forest ACC 15–2–3 Tournament Champion 2 3 3 Clemson ACC 13–3–4 At Large 3 2 4 Louisville ACC 12–5–2 At Large 9 6 5 Stanford PAC-12 11–3–4 Conference Champion 8 5 6 Denver Summit 17–0–3 Tournament Champion 4 7 7 Indiana Big Ten 11–1–7 At Large 7 15 8 Syracuse ACC 11–4–3 At Large 6 9 9 North Carolina ACC 11–3–3 At Large 10 10 10 Charlotte C-USA 12–3–2 At Large 5 14 11 Washington Pac-12 13–6–0 At Large 14 8 12 Virginia ACC 10–3–5 At Large 17 20 13 Notre Dame ACC 11–7–2 At Large 2013 14 Albany America East 12–5–2 Tournament Champion RV 12 15 Butler Big East 13–5–1 Tournament Champion 15 11 16 Kentucky C-USA 11–4–3 At Large 19 18
Schedule
RoundDateFirst roundNovember 17, 2016Second roundNovember 20, 2016Third roundNovember 26–27, 2016QuarterfinalsDecember 2 − 4, 2016College Cup: SemifinalsDecember 9, 2016College Cup FinalDecember 11, 2016
Bracket
Regional 1
Regional 2
Regional 3
Regional 4
2016 College Cup
Results
First round
Second round
Third round
Quarterfinals
College Cup
Semifinals
national championship
Statistics
Goalscorers
4 goals
Julian Gressel — Providence
3 goals
Alex Happi — Clemson Foster Langsdorf — Stanford Brian Wright — Vermont Nico Quashie — Virginia Tech Jon Bakero — Wake Forest
2 goals
Nick Hinds — Akron Austen Burnikel — Clemson Kortne Ford — Denver Andre Shinyashiki — Denver Albert Ruiz — Florida Gulf Coast Tate Schmitt — Louisville Amar Sejdič — Maryland Tucker Hume — North Carolina Jon Gallagher — Notre Dame Sergio Camargo — Syracuse Abu Danladi — UCLA Marcelo Acuña — Virginia Tech Ema Twumasi — Wake Forest
1 goal
Carlos Clark — Albany Bernardo Mattos — Albany Afonso Pinheiro — Albany Nicolás Solabarrieta — Albany Zeiko Lewis — Boston College Brandt Bronico — Charlotte Daniel Bruce — Charlotte Einar Einarsson — Coastal Carolina Frantzdy Pierrot — Coastal Carolina Zach Pagani — Colgate Bruno Scodari — Colgate Myles Englis — Creighton Mitch LaGro — Creighton Ricky Lopez-Espin — Creighton Ricardo Perez — Creighton Joel Rydstrand — Creighton Karim Sawaf — Creighton Matt Danilack — Dartmouth Chandler Crosswait — Denver Scott DeVoss — Denver Alex Underwood — Denver Robert Ferrer — Florida Gulf Coast Justin Gavin — Florida Gulf Coast Grant Lillard — Indiana Billy McConnell — Indiana Kevin Barajas — Kentucky J. J. Williams — Kentucky Cherif Dieye — Louisville Jack Gayton — Louisville Mohamed Thiaw — Louisville Kevin Engesser — Loyola-Chicago Alec Lasinski — Loyola-Chicago Gordon Wild — Maryland Eryk Williamson — Maryland Michael Marcantognini — Michigan State Patrick Khouri — New Mexico Nils Bruening — North Carolina Jeremy Kelly — North Carolina Drew Murphy — North Carolina Tariq Branche — Pacific Danny Griffin — Providence Steven Kilday — Providence Brendan Reardon — Providence Nick Sailor — Providence João Serrano — Providence Fraser Colmer — Radford Arthur Herpreck — Rider A. J. Vergara — San Diego State Tomas Hilliard-Arce — Stanford Sam Werner — Stanford Austin Ledbetter — SIU Edwardsville Keegan McHugh — SIU Edwardsville Kevin Walker — South Carolina Marcus Epps — South Florida Lindo Mfeka — South Florida Chris Nanco — Syracuse José Hernández — UCLA Kike Poleo — UCLA Willie Raygoza — UCLA Adam Musovski — UNLV Jon Arnar Barðdal — Vermont Stefan Lamanna — Vermont Pablo Aguilar — Virginia Paddy Foss — Virginia Brendan Moyers — Virginia Tech Forrest White — Virginia Tech Luis Argudo — Wake Forest Ian Harkes — Wake Forest Jacori Hayes — Wake Forest Beau Blanchard — Washington Scott Menzies — Washington Elijah Rice — Washington Justin Schmidt — Washington Steven Wright — Washington
Own goals
Tanner Dieterich — Clemson (playing against South Carolina) Kaelon Fox — Kentucky (playing against Creighton)
See also NCAA Men's Soccer Championships (Division II, Division III) NCAA Women's Soccer Championships (Division I, Division II, Division III)
Notes
References