1998 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 1998 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 5th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia from Thursday, November 19 to Saturday, November 21, 1998.

Men's championship
In the finals, reigning men's open champions, Texas Tech, would face reigning champions, BYU, who were looking to claim their third straight title. Prior to this, both teams would top their respective groups with Texas Tech defeating Salt Lake CC 1–0 in their opener followed by a win over Georgia and a 3–0 win over Clemson while BYU defeated the likes of Baylor in a rematch of the 1996 finals, 1994 champions Purdue, and hosts Georgia Southern.

In the quarterfinals, BYU would defeat 1995 champions, Texas, while Texas Tech would defeat Illinois. In the semifinals, BYU would defeat Salt Lake CC 5–0 in a rematch of last year's quarterfinal matchup that BYU also won 2–1 while Texas Tech would defeat hosts Georgia Southern to advance to their first finals. In the finals, BYU would dominate with a 4–0 win over Texas Tech, becoming the first team to win three national titles. Freshman, Brandon LeRoy, of BYU would be named the tournament's MVP after scoring five of the team's 23 goals while John Morris of BYU would be named the tournament's best goalkeeper after only conceding twice, with both goals being in the group stage.

Women's championship
In the finals, reigning runners-up and undefeated Penn State would face 1995 champions, Colorado. Prior to this, in the group stage, Penn State would win their opener against Illinois 3–1 with two goals from Penn State's Kate Stober while Colorado would lose their first match of the season in the opener to Ohio River Soccer Conference semifinalist, Ohio State, 2–1. In their second match, Penn State defeated Texas State 6–0 while Colorado improved from their loss by beating Salisbury State by more than three goals without conceding. In the Group A finale, Penn State would face Virginia Tech with both teams already qualifying for the quarterfinals after Virginia Tech also won their first two matches by at least three goals. However, since Virginia Tech had yet to concede, Penn State would need to win to claim first place due to the goal they conceded to Illinois in their opener; any other result would leave Virginia Tech in first in the group. The game would go on to be deadlocked at 0–0, meaning Virginia Tech would win the group and face Group D runners-up, North Carolina, while Penn State would take second and face reigning champions, Colorado State.

Meanwhile, going into the final games in Group B, Colorado would face Clemson and Ohio State would face Salisbury State with the current standings having Clemson in first with 18 points, Colorado in second with 11 points, and Ohio State in third with 9 points. In the finale, Ohio State would claim all 10 possible points with a 3–0 win over Salisbury State, meaning if Ohio State and/or Colorado wanted to advance to the quarterfinals, Colorado would need to beat Clemson, which they would do with a 3–0 win over Clemson. After this, Colorado would top the group and face Texas A&M, Ohio State would finish second and face JMU, and Clemson would be eliminated being just one point shy of a quarterfinal berth.

In the quarterfinals, Colorado would defeat Texas A&M while Penn State would face reigning champions Colorado State in a rematch of last year's finale which Colorado State won 1–0. In the game, Colorado State would open the scoring in the 15th minute and would carry the 1–0 lead into the break. Penn State would equalize in the 60th minute on penalty kick goal from Liz Villamil. The game would remain tied 1–1 after regulation, meaning overtime would be required. A goal at the end of the first period of overtime from Penn State's Ruth Uselton would give them their first lead of the match. Colorado State were unable to score in the five remaining minutes, sending Penn State to their second consecutive final four. In the semifinals, Colorado would defeat North Carolina while Penn State would face another undefeated team, JMU, in a rematch of last years semifinal that Penn State won 2–1. In the match, Penn State's Katie Stober would open the scoring with a goal in the 43rd minute via a header following a shot from Ruth Uselton whose shot hit the crossbar. This would prove to be the lone goal of the match, giving JMU their first loss of the season and sending Penn State to their second straight finals. In the finals, the game would remain deadlocked at 0–0 after regulation, meaning extra time would be required, the first time it would be required for a women's championship final. The overtime would also remain scoreless meaning, for the first time in any of the four divisions, penalties would determine a division's champion. Colorado would go on to win the shootout 4–3 and claim their second title. Colorado's Nicole Skogg would be named the tournament MVP.

Men's open
In the finals, LSU would face off against Virginia in a rematch of their second group stage match. Both teams would advance out of their group and Virginia would go on to beat Oregon in the quarterfinals while LSU defeated JMU's "Purple" team. LSU would go on to win the finals 1–0 over Virginia and claim their first open title. LSU's Andre Dugas would go on to be named the tournament's MVP.

Women's open
In the finals, Florida State would face off against reigning runners-up, Colorado State "Green", otherwise known as Colorado State's "B" or second team. Prior to this, Colorado State "Green" would top their group and automatically advanced to the semifinals and faced the winner of the match between the other two teams in their group, LSU and NW Missouri State. NW Missouri State would defeat LSU in penalties following a 1–1 draw in regulation. Colorado State would go on to defeat NW Missouri State in the semifinals to advance to their second straight finals where they faced Florida State. Colorado State "Green" would defeat Florida State and would claim their first open title. Colorado State's Courtney Kramer would be named the tournament's MVP.

Format
The competition consisted of 53 teams partitioned into 31 men's teams and 22 women's teams. Each of these partitions were further divided into an invite-only championship division and an open division. The divisions were divided into four groups of four teams each except for the men's open division's group E which only had 3 teams and the women's open division which divided teams into two groups of three. All 4 divisions began with a round-robin tournament where teams played each of the other teams in their group once except in the women's open division where each team played each team in the other group from theirs, once. Following this, the two best teams in each group advanced to a single-elimination, knockout round except in the women's open division where all teams advanced to the knockout round. The first metric for determining the best team was points, calculated first by giving a team 6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. Then, a team could be awarded an addition point for a shutout and an additional point for every goal scored, up to a max of 3 goals per game. If teams were tied on points, the following criteria were used in order:


 * 1) Winner of head-to-head competition
 * 2) Greatest goal difference
 * 3) Most goals scored
 * 4) Coin toss

The knockout stage was an 8-team tournament composed of the two best teams in each group except for the women's open division who had a 6-team tournament with all teams advancing and the first placed team in each group advancing with a bye to the semifinals. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner, so if one was tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime in the quarterfinals consisted of two, 5-minute, golden-goal periods while in the semifinals and finals, overtime consisted of two, 5-minute, periods. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner. Pool play and quarterfinal games were two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime with the semifinals and finals also being 40-minute halves, but having a ten minute halftime. If a player received three yellow cards during the course of the tournament they would be suspended the following the game.

Women's open
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Women's championship
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Men's open
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Women's open
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