The 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 60th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 24, 2018, and continued into the first weekend of November 2018. The season culminated with the four-team College Cup at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California, December 7–9, 2018. There were 206 teams in men's Division I competition. The Maryland Terrapins won their fourth NCAA title, defeating the Akron Zips 1–0.
Changes from 2017
Coaching changes ProgramOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming coachDate of appointment Dartmouth Chad Riley Hired by Notre Dame January 4, 2018 Bo Oshoniyi February 12, 2018 DePaul Craig Blazer Not retained December 5, 2017 Mark Plotkin December 21, 2017 East Tennessee State Bo Oshoniyi Hired by Dartmouth February 12, 2018 David Casper March 29, 2018 Gonzaga Einar Thorarinsson Retired November 13, 2017 Paul Meehan November 14, 2017 James Madison Tom Foley Resigned August 3, 2018 Paul Zazenski August 3, 2018 Notre Dame Bobby Clark Retired November 28, 2017 Chad Riley January 4, 2018 Ohio State John Bluem Retired March 19, 2018 Brian Maisonneuve April 23, 2018 Omaha Jason Mims Hired by Real Salt Lake March 28, 2018 Bob Warming April 2, 2018 Oregon State Steve Simmons Not retained December 1, 2017 Terry Boss December 28, 2017 Penn State Bob Warming Retired Hired by Omaha November 16, 2017 Jeff Cook January 2, 2018 Saint Francis (PA) Paulo Neto Was not announced After July 6, 2017 Frank Olszewski January 17, 2018 Saint Louis Mike McGinty Contract not renewed November 10, 2017 Kevin Kalish January 20, 2018 San Diego Seamus McFadden Retired March 15, 2017 Brian Quinn January 1, 2018 Seton Hall Gerson Echeverry Resigned November 6, 2017 Andreas Lindberg December 11, 2017 Stetson Kyle Gookins Resigned November 15, 2017 Cristian Neagu January 4, 2018 Temple David MacWilliams Not retained November 15, 2017 Brian Rowland December 22, 2017 Wright State Bryan Davis Resigned July 26, 2018 Jake Slemker July 26, 2018
New programs Mount St. Mary's University reinstated their men's soccer program, which had been dormant since the end of the 2012 season, for the 2018 season.
The California Baptist Lancers began the transition from Division II to Division I and the Western Athletic Conference in 2018–19.
The UC San Diego Tritons will begin the transition from Division II to Division I and will join the Big West Conference in 2020–21.
The Merrimack Warriors will begin the transition from Division II to Division I and will join the Northeast Conference in 2019–20.
Discontinued programs
Hartwick College, the only Division III school competing in Division I men's soccer for some years moved to Division III with the school's other sports.
Despite the program's many successes, the University of New Mexico's Board of Regents, for economic reasons, voted to discontinue the men's soccer program, along with three other sports teams, after the 2018 season.
Conference realignment SchoolPrevious ConferenceNew Conference Mount St. Mary's Northeast Conference, but inactive since 2012 Northeast Conference California Baptist Pacific West Conference (NCAA Division II) Western Athletic Conference USC Upstate Atlantic Sun Conference Big South Conference Belmont Horizon League Southern Conference Hartwick Sun Belt Conference affiliate member Empire 8 (NCAA Division III) Liberty Big South Conference Atlantic Sun Conference NOTE 1: The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners will move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Big West Conference on July 1, 2020.
NOTE 2: The team formerly known as the Fort Wayne Mastodons officially changed its athletic identity to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons on June 18, 2018, shortly before the creation of Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW). Previously, the PFW athletic program represented Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), but the Indiana University and Purdue University systems agreed to dissolve IPFW on July 1, 2018, with each system establishing a separate Fort Wayne campus. The IPFW athletic program transferred to PFW, representing only that institution, and remains a member of Division I and the Summit League.
NOTE 3: After six years of divisional play, with home-and-home series within the divisions, the Big West Conference teams will be playing a single, eight-team, seven game schedule. This move comes two years before Cal State Bakersfield moves in to make the Big West a nine team league.
NOTE 4: Central Arkansas announced on September 6 that its men's soccer program would leave its associate membership in the Missouri Valley Conference after the 2018 season and join the Sun Belt Conference as an Associate Member.
Season overview
Pre-season polls United Soccer CoachesRankTeam 1 Stanford 2 Indiana 3 North Carolina 4 Akron 5 Wake Forest 6 Louisville 7 Michigan State 8 SMU 9 Butler 10 Duke 11 Clemson 12 Wisconsin 13 Georgetown 14 Western Michigan 15 Virginia 16 Fordham 17 Notre Dame 18 Coastal Carolina 19 New Hampshire 20 FIU 21 Michigan 22 Seattle 23 Dartmouth 24 Washington 25 Colgate College Soccer NewsRankTeam1 Stanford 2 Indiana 3 North Carolina 4 Michigan State 5 Louisville 6 Georgetown 7 Akron 8 Wake Forest 9 Duke 10 SMU 11 Butler 12 Clemson 13 FIU 14 Western Michigan 15 Virginia 16 Fordham 17 Michigan 18 Seattle 19 Washington 20 Notre Dame 21 Colgate 22 Dartmouth 23 Maryland 24 Coastal Carolina 25 New Hampshire 26 Wisconsin 27 Pacific 28 UCLA 29 NC State30t William & Mary30t Cal State Fullerton Soccer AmericaRankTeam1 Indiana 2 North Carolina 3 Stanford 4 Michigan State 5 Akron 6 Wake Forest 7 SMU 8 Louisville 9 Clemson 10 Georgetown 11 Michigan 12 Western Michigan 13 Butler 14 Duke 15 Washington 16 Maryland 17 Virginia 18 UCLA 19 Seattle 20 FIU 21 Notre Dame 22 Portland 23 NC State 24 Fordham25 Coastal Carolina Top Drawer SoccerRankTeam1 Stanford 2 Akron 3 Wake Forest 4 North Carolina 5 Indiana 6 SMU 7 Louisville 8 Western Michigan 9 Michigan State 10 Butler 11 Denver 12 Clemson 13 Duke 14 Georgetown 15 Michigan 16 Virginia 17 UCLA 18 Wisconsin 19 Coastal Carolina 20 Notre Dame 21 Maryland 22 Portland 23 NC State 24 Seattle25 FIU Hero Sports RankTeam1 Stanford 2 Indiana 3 Wake Forest 4 North Carolina 5 Akron 6 SMU 7 Louisville 8 Clemson 9 Duke 10 Michigan State 11 Virginia 12 FIU 13 Wisconsin 14 Western Michigan 15 Columbia 16 Dartmouth 17 Georgetown 19 Notre Dame 19 VCU 20 Butler 21 New Hampshire 22 Maryland 23 UMass 24 William & Mary 25 Coastal Carolina 26 UCF 27 Pacific 28 Michigan 29 Air Force30 Fordham
Regular season The regular season began on August 24, 2018, and ended in early November 2018.
Headlines October 3 – Long Island University announced that its two current athletic programs—the Division I LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers—would merge into a single Division I athletic program under the LIU name after the 2018–19 school year. The unified program, which will maintain LIU Brooklyn's Division I and Northeast Conference memberships, will announce a new nickname at a later date. With both campuses sponsoring men's soccer, the two teams will become a single LIU team based at the Post campus in Nassau County, New York in the 2019 season.
#1
Weekly United Soccer Coaches #1 ranked teamDateTeamDateTeamDateTeamDateTeam August 8 (preseason) StanfordNone until after season starts August 28 Wake Forest September 4 Wake Forest September 11 Wake Forest September 18 Wake Forest September 25 Wake Forest October 2 Wake Forest October 9 North Carolina October 16 Wake Forest October 23 Wake Forest October 30 Wake Forest November 6 Wake Forest November 13 IndianaNone until after tournament December 11 Maryland
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.
All rankings are from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Date Winner Score Loser 08/24 Providence 2–1 (2ot) @ #8 SMU 08/24 @ Creighton 2–0 #11 Clemson 08/24 @ Grand Canyon 2–0 #12 Wisconsin 08/27 NC State 2–0 @ #4 Akron 08/27 Drake 2–1 @ #9 Butler 08/27 @ DePaul 1–0 #14 Western Michigan 09/01 San Francisco 1–0 @ #8 UCLA 09/04 @ Kentucky 3–0 #7 Louisville 09/07 Fairfield 2–1 @ #9 UNC Wilmington 09/07 @ Seattle 2–1 #14 Akron 09/14 @ #20 Portland 1–0 #9 Washington 09/14 @ Stanford 1–0 #15 UMass Lowell 09/18 Georgetown 1–0 @ #9 Duke 09/21 @ Rutgers 2–1 #5 Michigan State 09/25 @ Pitt 3–1 #12 NC State 09/30 Wisconsin 1–0 @ #5 Michigan State 10/05 @ Syracuse 2–0 #1 Wake Forest 10/05 @ Cal State Bakersfield 1–0 #7 Air Force 10/07 @ FIU 3–2 #4 Kentucky 10/09 Akron 2–1 @ #8 Michigan State 10/11 @ Oregon State 1–0 #10 Stanford 10/12 @ NC State 1–0 #1 North Carolina 10/16 @ Maryland 1–0 #7 Denver 10/16 @ Akron 1–0 #8 Creighton 10/16 Lipscomb 3–2 @ #10 Louisville 10/16 High Point 1–0 @ #14 Duke 10/24 Coastal Carolina 2–1 @ #10 UNC Wilmington 10/26 @ San Francisco 2–1 #7 Portland 10/28 @ Grand Canyon 1–0 #8 Air Force 10/31 Pitt 2–0 @ #7 Virginia 10/31 Georgetown 2–1(ot) @ #14 Creighton 11/03 @ Pacific 3–2 #11 Portland 11/08 California 1–0 @ #6 Stanford 11/09 Marshall 2–1 #3 Kentucky (@ Charlotte) 11/09 Akron 3–1 @ #12 West Virginia 11/09 Grand Canyon 1–0 #13 Air Force (@ Seattle)
Early season tournaments Several universities hosted early season soccer tournaments.
Name Dates StadiumCity No. teams Champion Carolina Nike Classic August 24–26 UNCG Soccer StadiumGreensboro, NC 4 Wake Forest (2–0) Fairfield Inn by Marriot JMU Invitational University ParkHarrisonburg, VA 4 Virginia Tech (2–0) John Rennie Nike Invitational August 24–26 Koskinen StadiumDurham, NC 4 Duke (2–0) HBU Invitational August 24–26 Sorrels FieldHouston, TX 4 Houston Baptist (1–0–1) Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament Alumni StadiumNotre Dame, IN 4 Mike Gibbs Memorial Tournament Hodges StadiumJacksonville, FL 4 Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Soccer Classic Patriots Point Athletics ComplexMount Pleasant, SC 4 VCU Tournament August 24–26ODU Soccer ComplexNorfolk, VA 4 Georgia Southern (1–0–1) Old Dominion (1–0–1) Wolstein Classic August 24–26Jesse Owens Memorial StadiumColumbus, OH 4 Dayton (1–0–1) Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic August 31–Sept 2 Bill Armstrong StadiumBloomington, IN 4 Indiana (2–0)UTRGV InvitationalAugust 31–Sept 2UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field ComplexEdinburg, TX4Purdue Fort Wayne (2–0) Chicago Classic Loyola Soccer Park & Wish FieldChicago, IL 4 The Grange & Ashwill Memorial Invitational UNM Soccer ComplexAlbuquerque, NM 4 The Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic Shea StadiumPeoria, IL 4 Johann Memorial Classic Peter Johann Memorial FieldLas Vegas, NV 4 The Courtyard by Marriott Central San Diego Tournament SDSU Sports DeckSan Diego, CA 4 NIU/Adidas Invitational NIU Soccer and Track & Field ComplexDeKalb, IL 4 ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic Arad McCutchan StadiumEvansville, IN 4 R.I. Capital City Classic Chapey Field at Anderson StadiumProvidence, RI 4 The TLC Plumbing and Utility Invitational UNM Soccer ComplexAlbuquerque, NM 4 UAB Soccer For A Cure Classic BBVA Compass FieldBirmingham, AL 4 UNCW Courtyard by Marriott Wilmington-Wrightsville Beach Classic UNCW Soccer StadiumWilmington, NC 4 ODU Soccer ClassicAugust 31–Sept 2ODU Soccer ComplexNorfolk, VA4VCU (2–0)
TopDrawer Soccer Team of the week Bold denotes TDS player of the week.