2018 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 2018 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 25th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at Foley Tourism Complex, in Foley, Alabama from Thursday, November 29 to Saturday, December 1, 2018.

Weather cancelled the initial tournament prematurely, however a continuation was held for three of the four divisions, with the only division to not have a continuation, the men's open division, naming both finalists as champions.

Prior to the cancellation
Both reigning champions in the men's and women's championship divisions were eliminated before the semifinals. In the men's championship division, the winningest team, BYU, would see their earliest exit from the tournament with an 2–1 loss in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Florida while in the women's championship division, the reigning back-to-back champion, UC-Santa Barbara, were eliminated in the round of 16 by the 2015 national champions Michigan State following penalties. The women's championship division was also left with only one team that had previously claimed a title: Ohio State who won in 2014.

Continuation
Inclement weather cancelled all games Saturday after the 10:00am games, meaning the semi-final matches in the championship divisions and the finals of the open divisions were unable to be played. Attempting to avoid a repeat of the 2013 tournament where no champions were crowned, a unique continuation was put into place for each division based on the remaining teams.

Men's championship
The 4 remaining men's teams were North Carolina, Florida, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State. A continuation was held January 26, 2019 at the UNC-Charlotte Rec Fields in Charlotte, NC. Games consisted of 45 minute halves with a 10 minute halftime.

The first semifinal saw North Carolina face Region II tournament champion Virginia Tech in a rematch from the aforementioned 2018 Region II tournament's group stage that ended in a 1–1 draw. The only goals of the game were 2 North Carolina goals scored in the first half, seeing North Carolina in the finals for the second time in 4 years. The second semifinal saw Ohio State face Florida. A first half goal from eventual MVP Tyler Garrison of Florida was the only goal of the game and saw Florida advancing to the finals to face regional opponent North Carolina. Due to the unique circumstances of the tournament, the men's division decided to have a third place match, which had never occurred in the previous 24 iterations of the tournament in any division. Ohio State would beat Virginia Tech 3–1 to claim 3rd place.

After 90 minutes, the final between 2015 national champion North Carolina and regional foe Florida was tied 0–0, meaning a 15 minute sudden-goal overtime was to be conducted. Eventual MVP Tyler Garrison of Florida scored a free-kick in this overtime period to give Florida their first national title. This was Region II's third national title in four years despite not winning any of the previous 21 iterations.

Women's championship
The 4 remaining teams were UC-Davis, Illinois, Clemson, and Ohio State. The continuation was held February 23 & 24, 2019 at the Natchez Trace Turf Field at Vanderbilt University's Rec Fields in Nashville, TN. Initially, the tournament was supposed to be outside and end all in one day, but was again postponed due to rain. The semifinals were rescheduled to 8:30pm and 10:30pm indoors on Vanderbilt's Student Rec Center turf field with the finals being at 7:30am CST the following day, February 24, on the grass that they initially planned on using for all the games. Games were 40 minutes with a 10 minute halftime.

The first semifinal saw Ohio State face Clemson. Ohio State scored first in the 20th minute, a lead they held until the 51st minute when Clemson tied the game at 1–1. Ohio State countered with 3 goals in 7 minutes, beginning only 2 minutes after Clemson scored, and they would go on to win 4–1. The second semifinal saw UC-Davis face Illinois. UC-Davis scored 19 minutes into the game and held that lead until the final 6 minutes of regulation when Illinois tied the game at 1–1. The game would remain tied at the end of regulation and go to a 15 minute sudden-victory overtime. UC-Davis' Cayla Stillman scored to send UC-Davis to their first national championship finals. The game ended at 12:46am with the finals being at 7:30am.

The final between Ohio State and UC-Davis was scoreless at halftime, but 2 second half goals led to a 2–0 Ohio State victory, making them the only national champion to not win their first title this season.

Men's open
The 2 remaining teams were undefeated, untied UCLA, who were yet to concede a goal, and 2003 men's championship division "finalists" Utah Valley State. The teams were unable to get a continuation scheduled, making them joint champions.

Women's open
The 2 remaining teams were group play runners-up and finals debutants, University of Southern California (USC), and undefeated, untied, 2006 women's championship division champions San Diego State. Only 120 miles separate these schools, making the continuation fairly convenient. The continuation was held February 23, 2019 at UC-Irvine's Rec Fields in Irvine, CA. San Diego State scored the first 3 goals, including one from eventual MVP Ellen Smolarski, in a 3–1 victory over USC for their first national title.

Format
The competition consisted of 96 teams: 48 men's teams and 48 women's teams. Each of these divisions were further divided into two 24-team divisions: the championship and open. The championship division divided teams into eight groups of three while the open division divided teams into six groups of four, both engaging in a round-robin tournament that determined teams able to advance to a knockout stage. Pool play games were two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime and utilized the three points for a win system. In the championship division, the two highest ranked teams from each group advanced to their knockout stage, with the third placed team advancing to a consolation bracket. In the open division, the top team from each group as well as the two best second placed teams advanced to their knockout stage. Knockout stage games also consisted of two 40-minute halves. The round of 16 and quarterfinals were separated by a seven-minute halftime while the semifinals and finals had a ten minute halftime. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner. If a knockout-stage game was tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime consisted of one, 15-minute, golden-goal period. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.

Qualification and selections
Each of the six regions received three automatic bids for both the men's and women's championship that they award to its members. The final six bids are considered "at-large", and are given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on the regional tournament results and RPI.

The 48 remaining teams participating in the open division were selected via a lottery draw that aired on YouTube on October 5, 2018 at 9am PST. Any team with membership in a NIRSA-affiliated league or with a minimum of four games played prior to the tournament were able to enter their name into the lottery. If a selected team qualified for the championship division, an alternate would take their spot. 62 men's teams and 67 women's were selected.

Men's championship
Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Women's championship
Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Scores

Notes: Scores

Scores

Scores

Notes: Scores

Women's open
Scores

Scores

Scores

Notes: Scores

Scores

Notes: 