The 2017 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 59th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 25 and continued into the first weekend of November 2017. The season culminated with the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship and the four-team College Cup finals at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, December 8–10. There were 205 teams in men's Division I competition. The two-time defending champions, the Stanford Cardinal, won their third consecutive championship by downing the previously undefeated Indiana Hoosiers 1–0 in double overtime.
Changes from 2016
Coaching changes ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointment BuffaloProgram terminatedon April 3 Stu Riddle Hired by Northern Kentucky January 9, 2017 Davie Carmichael January 31, 2017 Cleveland State Ali Kazemaini Resigned November 5, 2016 Kirk Harwat October 27, 2016,effective November 6, 2016 Elon Chris Little Hired by Seattle Sounders FC Academy February 7, 2017 Marc Reeves February 22, 2017 Florida Atlantic Kos Donev Was not announced Was not announced Joey Worthen February 14, 2017 Florida Gulf Coast Bob Butehorn Hired by South Florida December 18, 2016 Jesse Cormier January 23, 2017 Florida International (FIU) Scott Calabrese Hired by Central Florida December 6, 2016 Kevin Nylen December 16, 2016 Houston Baptist Steve Jones Was not announced Was not announced Ryan Pratt June 13, 2017 Marshall Bob Gray Retired November 11, 2016 Chris Grassie January 10, 2017 Mount St. Mary's Program dormant since 2012 Will return in 2018 August 26, 2016 Bryan Cunningham January 13, 2017 NC State Kelly Findley Not Retained/To Sporting Kansas City Academy November 22, 2016 George Kiefer November 22, 2016 Northern Illinois (NIU) Eric Luzzi Was not announced Was not announced Ryan Swan January 23, 2017 Northern Kentucky John Basalyga Retired December 6, 2016 Stu Riddle January 9, 2017 Radford Marc Reeves Hired by Elon February 22, 2017 Bryheem Hancock March 28, 2017 South Florida George Kiefer Hired by NC State November 22, 2016 Bob Butehorn December 18, 2016 Stetson Jared Vock Interim not retained December 21, 2016 Kyle Gookins December 22, 2016 UC Irvine Chris Volk Not Retained January 19, 2017 Yossi Raz January 19, 2017 USC Upstate Greg Hooks Retired July 20, 2017 Scott Halkett July 20, 2017 Central Florida (UCF) Bryan Cunningham Not Retained /To Mount St. Mary's November 15, 2016 Scott Calabrese December 6, 2016 Vermont Jesse Cormier Hired by FGCU January 23, 2017 Rob Dow February 17, 2017
New programs The California Baptist Lancers have been approved to begin the transition from Division II to Division I and the Western Athletic Conference in 2018–19.
Discontinued programs
Buffalo discontinued men's soccer and three other sports in April 2017 for financial reasons.
Conference realignment SchoolPrevious ConferenceNew Conference SIU Edwardsville † Missouri Valley Conference Mid-American Conference Valparaiso Horizon League Missouri Valley Conference IUPUI Summit League Horizon League † = The SIU Edwardsville Cougars were initially announced as replacing Buffalo for 2018 and beyond, but less than a week after the first announcement, the timetable for SIU Edwardsville's entry was accelerated to 2017. The 2017 season will be the last for Belmont as an associate in Horizon League men's soccer. The team will join the Southern Conference for 2018 and beyond.
NCAA Top 10 Ranking On October 11, the NCAA announced that, for the first time, the Division I Men's Soccer Committee would announce a Top 10 Ranking well ahead of the announcement of the tournament field and seeding. The announcement was scheduled for Sunday, October 29 during halftime of the nationally televised game between Indiana and Michigan State and is to designed give the public a sneak peek of the committee's thought process. Bill Wnek, chair of the committee and associate director of athletics at Loyola Maryland stated that, “With 75 percent of the season complete by that point, this will be a great exercise for our committee as we prepare for selection Monday.”
The ranking is to be based on the same criteria used to select and seed the 48 teams for the Division I Men's Soccer Championship, including strength of schedule, Rating Percentage Index, head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents, significant wins and losses, and locations of contests with additional input provided by the regional advisory committees.
Season overview
Pre-season polls United Soccer Coaches(formerly NSCAA)RankTeam1 Stanford2 Wake Forest3 Denver4 North Carolina5 Clemson6 Maryland7 Indiana8 Syracuse9 Louisville10 Notre Dame11 Washington12 Providence13 Virginia14 Creighton15 Charlotte16 Akron17 Virginia Tech18 UMass Lowell19 Coastal Carolina20 New Mexico21 UCLA22 Michigan State23 FGCU24 Connecticut25 Butler College Soccer NewsRankTeam1 Stanford2 Wake Forest3 Maryland4 Denver5 North Carolina6 Clemson7 Louisville8 Virginia Tech9 Providence10 Virginia11 Indiana12 Syracuse13 Washington14 Creighton15 FGCU16 Charlotte17 Notre Dame18 Akron19 Albany20 Butler21 SIU Edwardsville22 Loyola-Chicago23 Michigan State24 Portland25 Wisconsin 26 New Mexico 27 Coastal Carolina 28 UMass Lowell 29 Connecticut 30 Pacific Soccer AmericaRankTeam1 Stanford2 Maryland3 North Carolina4 Indiana5 Wake Forest6 Clemson7 Denver8 Virginia9 Notre Dame10 Louisville11 Syracuse12 Providence13 Akron14 Washington15 UCLA16 Creighton17 Charlotte18 Connecticut19 Pacific20 Utah Valley21 UMass Lowell22 Coastal Carolina23 Portland24 Virginia Tech25 FGCU Top Drawer Soccer RankTeam1 Stanford2 Maryland3 Wake Forest4 North Carolina5 Indiana6 Denver7 Syracuse8 Clemson9 Creighton10 UMass Lowell11 Providence12 Louisville13 Akron14 Virginia15 Portland16 Utah Valley17 Notre Dame18 Washington19 New Mexico20 Virginia Tech21 Loyola-Chicago22 FGCU23 Coastal Carolina24 Butler25 Charlotte Hero SportsRankTeam1 Stanford2 Wake Forest 3 North Carolina 4 Syracuse 5 Clemson 6 Louisville 7 Notre Dame 8 Maryland 9 Washington 10 Creighton 11 Virginia 12 Butler 13 Providence 14 UCLA 15 Virginia Tech 16 Indiana 17 Charlotte 18 Denver 19 San Diego State 20 Akron 21 Portland 22 FGCU 23 Wisconsin 24 Oregon State 25 Albany 26 Harvard 27 UMass Lowell 28 Loyola-Chicago 29 Pacific 30 New Mexico
Regular season The regular season will begin on August 25, 2017 and end in early November 2017.
#1
Weekly United Soccer Coaches #1 ranked teamDateTeamDateTeamDateTeamDateTeam August 3 (preseason) StanfordNone until after season starts August 29 Stanford September 5 Stanford September 12 Indiana September 19 Notre Dame September 26 Indiana October 3 Indiana October 10 Indiana October 17 Indiana October 24 Wake Forest October 31 Wake Forest November 7 Wake Forest November 14 Wake ForestNone until after tournament December 12 Stanford
Top 10 Ranking On Sunday, October 29 during halftime of the nationally televised game between Indiana and Michigan State, the Division I Men's Soccer Committee announced its first-ever NCAA Top 10 Ranking. (See details above.)
Conference 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 September 1 @ UNC Wilmington 1–0 #3 North Carolina September 1 Furman 1–0(2ot) @ #4 Denver September 5 Georgia State 2–1(ot) @ #2 Wake Forest September 8 @ NC State 1–0 #3 Clemson September 8 @ UC Irvine 1–0 #9 Denver September 9 Tulsa 2–0 @ #1 Stanford September 9 @ Northeastern 2–1 #12 UMass Lowell September 10 @ Cal State Northridge 2–0 #9 Denver September 12 Cincinnati 1–0 @ #13 Kentucky September 15 #17 Louisville 2–1 @ #7 Syracuse September 15 @ Northern Illinois 1–0 #10 Omaha September 15 @ UC Santa Barbara 1–0 #14 Pacific September 19 Cornell 1–0(ot) @ #7 Syracuse September 19 @ South Carolina 1–0 #15 Furman September 22 @ Virginia Tech 2–1 #1 Notre Dame September 22 Duke 2–1 @ #11 Syracuse September 23 @ Saint Louis 2–0 #5 Stanford September 23 Gardner–Webb 5–4(2ot) @ #13 Furman September 27 @ Akron 4–1 #4 Michigan State September 29 @ Portland 4–1 #9 Western Michigan September 30 @ UMBC 1–0 #12 New Hampshire September 30 @ Old Dominion 2–0 #13 Kentucky September 30 VCU 1–0(2ot) @ #15 UNC Wilmington October 3 Pittsburgh 1–0 @ #14 Columbia October 11 @ West Virginia 1–0 #6 Michigan State October 11 Charleston 2–1 @ #15 UNC Wilmington October 13 Pittsburgh 1–0 @ #7 Notre Dame October 14 @ James Madison 2–0 #15 UNC Wilmington October 17 Radford 1–0 @ #10 Virginia October 20 Coastal Carolina 1–0 @ #3 Maryland October 21 NC State 3–2 @ #5 Louisville October 23 VCU 3–0 @ #9 Maryland October 28 @ St. John's 1–0 #10 Georgetown October 29 #19 Michigan 2–1 @ #9 Maryland November 5 Ohio State 2–1 @ #8 Michigan State November 5 #21 Notre Dame 2–1 @ #3 North Carolina November 10 Charlotte 3–1@ Old Dominion #8 FIU November 10 Wisconsin 4–0@ Grand Park #10 Michigan November 10 San Jose State 1–0@ UNLV #12 Air Force
Conference winners and tournaments