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.
Overview
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. The tournament continuation started with the men's championship on January 26, 2019 followed by the women's open and championship on February 23, 2019 and officially concluded with the women's championship finals on February 24, 2018. This tournament saw 4 teams winning their first ever national title.
Prior to the cancellation, in the women's championship, the prior two-time champion, UC-Santa Barbara, were eliminated in the round of 16 by 2015 champion Michigan State after penalties, preventing a potential three-peat. The division was also left with only one team that had previously claimed a title: Ohio State who won in 2014. The men's championship division saw it's reigning champion and winningest team, BYU's, earliest exit from the tournament with an 2-1 loss in the quarterfinals to Florida. In the women's open division, undefeated, untied, and 2006 women's championship division champion San Diego State would reach the finals to face group play runners-up USC in their first finals appearance. In the men's open division, undefeated, untied, and unscored on UCLA were to face Utah Valley in what was to be the first finals for both teams. This was the only division to not have a continuation and would go on to name both teams as co-champions.
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.