SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer NC will host the 2021 NCAA soccer tournaments due to COVID-19.

NC will host the 2021 NCAA Soccer Tournaments due to COVID-19

While Indiana became the sole home for this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, North Carolina gets the nod for men’s and women’s soccer.

The NCAA announced Thursday the tournaments to determine the Division I national champions will be played entirely in the state, with the champions being crowned at Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park.

The move, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, brings 48 women’s and 36 men’s teams to North Carolina for games between April 27 and May 17. The NCAA usually crowns its soccer champions in December, but it postponed the tournaments last fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is a major announcement and an incredible opportunity for the Town of Cary and the entire state of North Carolina,” Scott Dupree, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance said in a statement. “Cary has clearly established itself as the collegiate soccer capital of the U.S., and North Carolina is known nationally as a premier state for college sports, so it all came together perfectly.”

Just as Indianapolis and San Antonio became the primary sites for men’s and women’s basketball tournament games to be played, North Carolina will be the lone home for soccer is to limit travel and condense the amount of time to play the games, according to an NCAA news release.

The one-state plan also keeps teams in close proximity to help maintain health and safety standards through COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, the NCAA said.

Although attendance plans are not finalized, the NCAA intends “to provide some opportunity for family and friends to attend the championships.” The maximum capacity will be 25 percent, meaning 2,500 spectators could attend games at WakeMed Soccer Park’s 10,000-seat Sahlen’s Stadium.

In addition to WakeMed Soccer Park, games will be played throughout the state at both campus and off-campus sites, including Campbell, East Carolina, UNC Wilmington, UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest as well as Greensboro’s Bryan Park, the J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex in Wilson and the Sportsplex in Matthews.

“This is obviously a unique situation and a massive undertaking, hosting the men’s and women’s tournaments in their entirety, a format that has never been done before,” Dupree said. “If anyone can pull it off, it’s Cary and all of our North Carolina partners.”

The tournament fields will be selected on April 19. First-round games for the women are April 27-28 while the men begin play on April 29.

Men's College Cup: Marshall completes improbable run to championship

by Paul Kennedy, Soccer America

Men's college soccer has a long history in West Virginia, dating back to the late 1960s, but it seen nothing like Marshall's Thundering Herd.

Marshall, which had never previously advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament, defeated eight-time champion Indiana, 1-0, in Monday's championship game in Cary, North Carolina.

It was a familiar script. Like in the quarterfinals against defending champion Georgetown and semifinals against ACC power North Carolina, the Thundering Herd won, 1-0, on a goal by Jamil Roberts.

The third of Roberts' hat trick of game-winners was the most dramatic. It was the golden goal in the 98th minute, coming after Brazilian All-American Vitor Dias fired a shot that was blocked and had his rebound attempt stopped by IU keeper Roman Celentano. But the ball bounced up and deflected off the post, where Roberts was standing, and the Sporting KC draft pick from Newcastle, United, smashed it into the goal.


The goal set off wild celebrations among the hundreds of Marshall supporters who had traveled to Cary for the final and hoisted Roberts in the air. Similar displays took place in city of Huntington, which closed off 9th Street between 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue to allow restaurants to set host watch parties for the Marshall game.

"Not bad for a little school from West Virginia with a bunch of internationals, eh?" said Roberts, one of nine foreign students in the Herd's starting lineup.

Marshall is the fifth West Virginia school to win a national men's soccer champions and gives the state two reigning champions.

Davis & Elkins was a national power, winning the NAIA title in 1968 and 1970 under Coach Greg Myers and finishing second in 1969 and 1971. D&E's star was goalkeeper Bill Nuttall, who joined Myers when he moved to the NASL's Miami Toros and later became the U.S. men's national team general manager. Another member of the 1968 and 1970 national championship teams was Hank Steinbrecher, later U.S. Soccer's general secretary.

West Virginia Wesleyan later won five NAIA titles with three different coaches (Tom Martin, Derrick Leeson and Gavin Donaldson) before the Bobcats affiliated with the NCAA Division II.

Charleston won the NCAA Division II title in 2017 and 2019 after finishing second in 2014 and 2016, and Bethany won the 1994 Division III title.

May 17 in Cary, N.C.
Marshall 1 Indiana 0. Goal: Roberts 98.
Marshall -- Semmle, Dossantos, Fernandes, Dolabella, Roberts, Alves, Mocyunas, Schneider, Leinhos, Yosef, Dias. Substitutes: Souza,.
Indiana -- Celentano, Maher, Palazzolo, Munie, Schmidt, Sessock, Goumballe, Endeley, Bebej, Bezerra, Warr. Substitutes: Wittenbrink, B.Yeagley, Ward.
Att.: 5,000.

Women's College Cup: Twenty years later, Santa Clara wins second title
by Paul Kennedy, Soccer America

Twenty years ago, Santa Clara won its first NCAA Division I women's championship. The stars were Aly Wagner, Leslie Osborne and Danielle Slaton, all future U.S. national team standouts with 235 caps among them.

On Monday, the Broncos won a second national championship, rallying from a goal down with seven minutes to play to tie Florida State, 1-1, and win in a shootout, 4-1.

This time, the heroes included Kelsey Turnbow, the Women's College Cup's Offensive Most Outstanding Player with the tying goal in the final, and Alex Loera, the Defensive Most Outstanding Player.

Florida State had won its previous two games in a shootout, converting all eight attempts, but its luck ran out in the final. Clara Robbins and Emily Madril both hit the same post and missed on the Seminoles' first two attempts. Canadian international Gabby Carle converted in the third round, but it just forestalled the inevitable.

All four Santa Clara shooters scored on FSU freshman Cristina Roque, the star of the semifinal shootout against Virginia: Julie Doyle, Sally Menti, Turnbow and Izzy D'Aquila.

"The game was a tough game," said Broncos coach Jerry Smith, the coach when they won the 2001 title. "[Florida State] plays like a pro team. We conceded possession in their half of the field and limited their chances. That was certainly part of our game plan."

Florida State took a deserved lead in the 63rd minute when Chinese star Yujie Zhao set up Jenna Nighswonger for the final's opening goal and put the Broncos behind for the first time all tournament.

"When you have lethal attacking players like we have," added Smith, "we don't need a lot of chances to score goals. Thankfully, Kelsey put one in for us."

May 17 in Cary, N.C.
Santa Clara 1 Florida State 1 (Santa Clara wins 4-1 on penalties). Goals: Turnbow 84; Nighswonger 63.
Santa Clara -- Nicolos, White, Bubnis, Nezu, Goor, Loera, Smith, D'Aquila, Turnbow, Doyle, Menti. Substitutes: Halvorsen, Reeves.
Florida State -- Roque, Carle, Madril, Howell, Flynn, Pavlisko, Nighswonger, Zhao, Nesbeth, Robbins, McFarland. Substitutes: Lynch, Iwai, Brown, Mitchell, Payne.
Att.: 5,000.