The 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 65th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The season began on August 24, 2023 and concluded on December 10, 2023. Syracuse is the defending national champion.
The Clemson Tigers won their fourth national title, and their first since 2021, defeating Notre Dame in the final.
Changes from 2022 Coaching changes The following coaching changes occurred during the 2022–23 offseason. ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointment Cal Poly Retired Temple Fired Rider Retired Jacksonville Resigned Georgia Southern Resigned Bryant Retired Gardner–Webb Fired Robert Morris Resigned Saint Francis (PA) Hired by Notre Dame of Maryland Detroit Mercy Fired November 28, 2022 Lindenwood Fired Presbyterian Hired by Robert Morris December 20, 2022 Oregon State Resigned UMBC Retired Evansville Resigned Columbia Hired by Southern Connecticut Wright State Fired Seattle U Resigned Le Moyne Retired Drexel Resigned Cal State Bakersfield Resigned St. Francis Brooklyn Athletic program disbanded
Conference realignment
The ongoing conference realignment had two especially significant impacts on men's soccer in the 2023 season.
First, the Mid-American Conference announced on November 11, 2022 that it would no longer sponsor men's soccer after the 2022 season. The MAC had dropped to five men's soccer members during the realignment cycle, and was unable to find the sixth member needed to maintain its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The four full MAC members that sponsored the sport found new conference homes within a week, with Akron joining the Big East Conference and Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan joining the Missouri Valley Conference. The one associate member of the group, full independent Chicago State, was temporarily left without a home for its own program.
Then, on March 28, 2023, the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) announced that it would launch a men's soccer league in the 2023 season with eight members, equally divided between full members and associates. Three full OVC members (Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Southern Indiana) moved men's soccer from the Summit League, with the other full member (SIU Edwardsville) leaving the Missouri Valley Conference. The new associates are the aforementioned Chicago State; Houston Christian, which formerly housed men's soccer in the Western Athletic Conference; Incarnate Word, which had played the 2022 season as an independent; and Liberty, which left the Atlantic Sun Conference (which sponsors soccer for both sexes) for Conference USA (which sponsors it only for women). Western Illinois later joined the Ohio Valley for all sports this season as well. Western had originally planned to join the OVC's new league as its ninth men's soccer program. However, the conference had already built its schedule, which includes air travel. Therefore, Western instead opted to stay with the Summit League as an affiliate in order for the conference to stay at 6 members and retain its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament while they look to add more members, and will move the sport over to the OVC in 2024.
Team Conference in 2022 Conference in 2023 Akron Mid-American Big East Bowling Green Mid-American MVC Campbell Big South CAA Chicago State Mid-American OVC Eastern Illinois Summit OVC Hartford Independent CCC (Division III) Houston Christian WAC OVC Incarnate Word Independent OVC Le Moyne NE-10 (Division II) NEC Liberty ASUN OVC Lindenwood Summit OVC Northern Illinois Mid-American MVC NEC SIU Edwardsville MVC OVC Southern Indiana Summit OVC UCF The American Sun Belt Western Michigan Mid-American MVC
The 2023 season was the last for at least 11 men's college soccer teams in their then-current conferences:
School Current conference Future conference California Pac-12 ACC Chicago State OVC NEC Merrimack NEC MAAC Oregon State Pac-12 WCC Sacred Heart NEC MAAC San Diego State Pac-12 WAC SMU American ACC Stanford Pac-12 ACC UCLA Pac-12 Big Ten Washington Pac-12 Big Ten Western Illinois Summit OVC
New programs On May 10, Le Moyne College announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference and would begin the transition to Division I.
Discontinued programs In March 2023, St. Francis College, athletically known as St. Francis Brooklyn, announced that it would shut down its entire athletic program at the end of the 2022–23 school year.
Other news May 24, 2023 – George Washington University announced that it would change its nickname from Colonials to Revolutionaries. July 20 – The Colonial Athletic Association announced a name change to Coastal Athletic Association. October 4 – The Division I Council approved changes to the transfer window for all sports. In fall sports other than football, including men's and women's soccer, the transfer portal now opens for a total of 45 days. A 30-day fall window opens 7 days after championship selections are made, followed by a spring window from May 1–15.
Season outlook Preseason polls
United Soccer CoachesRankTeam 1 Syracuse (4) 2 (1) 3 (1) 4 Duke (1) 5 Pittsburgh 6 7 8 9 Clemson 10 11 (1) 12 13 14 15 Virginia 16 17 18 Wake Forest 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Top Drawer SoccerRankTeam 1 Syracuse 2 3 4 Clemson 5 Duke 6 7 Pittsburgh 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Wake Forest 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 College Soccer NewsRankTeam 1 Syracuse 2 3 4 Duke 5 6 Pittsburgh 7 8 Clemson 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Wake Forest 16 Virginia 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Regular season
Major upsets In this list, a "major upset" is defined as a game won by an unranked team that defeats a ranked team, or a team ranked 10 spots lower than the other team.
All rankings are from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Date Winner Score Loser August 24 UCF 2–1 @ 9 Clemson Missouri State 1–0 @ 14 Maryland @ Louisville 1–0 16 TulsaAugust 25 @ San Diego 2–0 6 WashingtonAugust 27 Loyola Marymount 3–1 @ 15 VirginiaAugust 29 @ Lipscomb 2–1 15 Saint Louis September 1 @ Wisconsin 1–0 2 Kentucky @ Georgetown 4–1 8 Pittsburgh 23 Washington 1–0 @ 10 Indiana @ Denver 3–1 11 SMU CSUN 3–1 @ 12 San Diego September 2 SIUE 2–0 15 Saint Louis @ CityPark @ California Baptist 2–0 25 Loyola Marymount September 4 @ UIC 2–0 21 Wisconsin September 8 New Hampshire 2–1 @ 11 FIU Penn 3–0 @ 14 Penn State @ South Florida 1–0 15 Indiana September 9 @ 16 West Virginia 1–0 3 Portland @ Pittsburgh 3–0 9 Wake Forest September 12 Michigan State 1–0 @ 10 Notre Dame September 15 Virginia Tech 2–1 @ 3 Louisville @ Clemson 2–0 8 Duke @Creighton 2–1 13 Marquette South Carolina 1–0 @ 24 KentuckySeptember 16 @ Grand Canyon 1–0 22 San Diego @ UMBC 2–1 25 CornellSeptember 17 Oregon State 2–1 @ 1 Stanford September 19 @ Cornell 2–1 7 Syracuse @ Georgetown 2–0 12 James Madison September 21 @ Seattle 3–2 20 Washington September 23 @ Coastal Carolina 3–2 12 James Madison September 24 @ North Carolina 2–1 11 Duke @ 20 Washington 3–1 5 Portland September 28 California 1–0 @ 17 San Diego State September 29 @ 21 Duke 5–3 7 Syracuse @ Virginia 3–0 8 Louisville September 30 Western Michigan 1–0 @ 20 UIC Oregon State 2–0 @ 22 Washington October 4 @ DePaul 3–1 20 UIC October 5 @ Washington 3–1 22 San Diego State October 6 @ Santa Clara 1–0 7 Portland @ Clemson 4–0 21 Louisville October 7 @ NJIT 1–0 15 Vermont Indiana 2–1 19 Penn State @ Rhode Island 1–0 24 Fordham October 9 Temple 2–1 @ 10 SyracuseOctober 11 UC Irvine 2–1 @ 13 Cal State Fullerton October 12 San Francisco 2–1 @ 9 Stanford October 13 @ Virginia 2–1 11 Pittsburgh@ Penn State 2–1 12 Northwestern October 14 @ Providence 1–0 3 Georgetown @ Delaware 2–1 18 Hofstra @ Loyola Chicago 3–1 25 Saint Louis October 18 @ Creighton 3–2 7 Akron October 20 @ Florida Atlantic 2–1 14 FIU October 21 UMBC 2–1 @ 16 Vermont October 22 Kentucky 2–0 @ 1 Marshall Western Michigan 2–1 @ 10 Missouri State October 24 Ohio State 3–2 @ 16 Michigan State October 27 @ Kentucky 1–0 2 West Virginia October 28 @ Loyola Marymount 1–0 9 Portland October 31 James Madison 2–1 @ 1 UCF
Conference standings
Early season tournaments Several universities will host early season soccer tournaments.
Name Date(s) Host StadiumCity No. teams Champion Fairfield by Marriott Invitational August 24–27 James Madison Sentara Park Harrisonburg, Virginia James Madison Wolstein Classic August 24–27 Ohio State Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Columbus, OH UC DavisJohn Rennie Invitational August 25–27 Duke Koskinen Stadium Durham, NC Duke UAB Soccer for the Cure Classic September 1–3 UAB PNC Field Birmingham, AL Belmont & Chicago State adidas/IU Credit Union Classic September 1–4 Indiana Bill Armstrong Stadium Bloomington, IN Washington
Postseason
Conference winners and tournaments
ConferenceRegular Season Champion(s)Tournament WinnerConference TournamentTournamentDatesTournament Venue (City) ACC Atlantic – 2023 tournament November 1–11 All matches before final: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedFinal: WakeMed Soccer Park • Cary, North Carolina Coastal – America East 2023 tournament November 4–12 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed American 2023 tournament November 5–12 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion ASUN 2023 tournament November 4–11 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Atlantic 10 2023 tournament November 3–12 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Big East East – 2023 tournament November 4–12 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Maryland SoccerPlex • Boyds, Maryland Midwest – Big South 2023 tournament November 5–11 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Big Ten & 2023 tournament November 3–12 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Big West 2023 tournament November 1–11 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed CAA & 2023 tournament November 2–11 Quarterfinals and semifinals: Campus sites, hosted by top two seedsFinal: Hosted by top remaining seed Horizon 2023 tournament November 5–11 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Ivy 2023 tournament November 10–12 Campus sites, hosted by No. 1 seed MAAC 2023 tournament November 5–12 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed Missouri Valley 2023 tournament November 5–11 Quarterfinals: Campus sites, hosted by higher seedSemifinals and final: Hosted by regular-season champion Northeast 2023 tournament November 5–12 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed OVC 2023 tournament November 5–11 Ralph Korte Stadium • Edwardsville, Illinois Pac-12 No tournament Patriot 2023 tournament November 4–11 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed SoCon 2023 tournament November 3–12 Quarterfinals and semifinals: Campus sites, hosted by top two seedsFinal: Hosted by top remaining seed The Summit 2023 tournament November 9–11 Case Soccer Complex • Tulsa, Oklahoma Sun Belt Marshall Marshall 2023 tournament November 5–12 Campus sites, hosted by higher seed WAC 2023 tournament November 5–11 Peter Johann Field • Paradise, Nevada WCC No tournament
Awards and honors TopDrawerSoccer.com Player/Team of the Week Bold denotes TDS Player of the Week.
TopDrawer Soccer Team of the Week Week Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Week 1 – August 28 Nate Crockford – Wisconsin Luca Nikolai – James MadisonBryce LeBel – LouisvilleKevin Bonilla – PortlandTrevor Dillon – San Diego Jack Denton – Missouri StateNick Pariano – DukeZach Bohane – Stanford Sam Donnellan – DelawareMatthew Bell – MarshallLineker Santos – Memphis
All-America teams
2023 United Soccer Coaches All-America Teams First Team Second Team Third Team Bryan Dowd, GK, Notre Dame Kevin Bonilla, DF, Portland Morris Duggan, DF, Marshall Garrison Tubbs, DF, Wake Forest Mads Westergren, DF, SMU Yannick Bright, MF, New Hampshire Eliot Goldthorp, MF, Hofstra Jono Nyandjo, MF, UNC Charlotte Matthew Bell, FW, Marshall Charlie Sharp, FW, Western Michigan Tyrese Spicer, FW, Lipscomb