College soccer: Uncertainty on eve of NCAA Division I season

Preseason officially opened for NCAA Division I women's teams on Tuesday. Two conferences have already released their preseason polls.

But there is little certainty that the Division I season for men or women will be played, at least in the fall.

On Wednesday, the NCAA Division II and III councils postponed fall sports following the decision of the NCAA's Board of Governors to leave it up to the three divisions to decide whether to proceed with fall sports.

It will be up to the NCAA Division I Council to decide by Aug. 21 whether to go ahead with fall championships in all but the Football Bowl Subdivision, where the giants of college football play. The 40-person Division I council is dominated by administrators from universities and conferences but also includes professors and students. It is not expected to nix championships in fall sports it has control over if only because pressure would then mount for those teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision to follow suit and shut down.

The NCAA's one proviso was that no championships can be held in a division's sport if 50 percent or more of eligible teams pull out. Division I's Football Championship Subdivision, which consists of smaller football programs, was compromised on Friday when three FCS conferences pulled the plug on football this fall, upping the total to nine conferences (out of 13) that have decided not to play in the fall. 

The other fall sports are men's and women's soccer as well as women's volleyball, men's water polo, field hockey and cross-country. SI.com reported that the two sports considered most vulnerable are men's water polo and field hockey. (Women's water polo is a spring sport.)

Soccer is not there yet. Only nine of 32 Division I conferences -- eight with women's soccer and seven with men's soccer -- have postponed fall sports, but most others will delay their season's start -- the Horizon League won't begin play until Oct. 1 -- or will limit play to conference play.

Update: The Mid-American became the first FBS conference to postpone fall sports.

If you're trying to find out when your favorite team will begin its season -- good luck. The Division I women's season is supposed to begin on Aug. 20, but most men's and women's programs have yet to release their 2020 schedules, which have had to be modified because of early-season postponements, non-conference cancellations or decisions to restrict travel to short distances.

Here's a look at where conferences currently stand ...

Power 5 conferences:
ACC. (12 men's soccer teams, 14 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 10. Format: 6 conference games, additional games against conference or non-conference foes that meet conference medical standards. Tournament: Women (four teams Nov. 6-8 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina); Men (four teams Nov. 13-15 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina).


Big Ten (9 men's soccer teams, 14 women's soccer teams) Season start: no announcement. Format: conference-only schedule. Tournament: no announcement.
Big 12 (10 women's soccer teams) Season start: no delay. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: no announcement.

Big 12 Preseason Poll
1. Texas Tech 72
2. Oklahoma State 70
3. TCU 55
4. West Virginia 54
5. Texas 50
6. Kansas 48
7. Baylor 38
8. Oklahoma 31
9. Iowa State 16
9. Kansas State 16

Pac-12 (6 men's soccer teams, 12 women's soccer teams). Season start: Sept. 26. Format: conference-only schedule. Tournament: none.
SEC. (14 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 1. Format: no restrictions announced on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: no announcement.

Group of 5 conferences:
AAC. (6 men's soccer teams, 9 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 1. Format: no restrictions announced on conference or non conference matches. Tournament: Women (four teams); Men (four teams).
Conference USA (8 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams)  Season start: no announcement. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: Women (Nov. 4-8 at Rice); Men (eliminated).

*Mid-American (6 men's soccer teams, 12 women's soccer teams) postponed
Mountain West (12 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 26. Format: conference-only schedule. Tournament: Eliminated.
Sun Belt (5 men's soccer teams, 8 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 3. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: Women (Nov. 4-8 at Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama); Men (Nov. 11-15 at Georgia State).
*Postponed football.

FCS conferences:
*Big Sky (10 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 18. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: Eliminated.

Big Sky Preseason Poll
1. Montana 70
2. Northern Colorado 69
3. Eastern Washington 66
4. Sacramento State 65
5. Northern Arizona 49
6. Weber State 40
7. Idaho 34
8. Portland State 22
9. Idaho State 18
10. Southern Utah 17

Big South. (9 men's soccer teams, 12 women's soccer teams). Season start: Sept. 3. Format: no restrictions announced on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: Women (four teams on campus sites); Men (four teams on campus sites).
*CAA (9 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams) Season start: no announcement. Format: "extreme flexibility model" with no requirements for conference play. Tournament: Women (Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at Hofstra and UNCW and Nov. 6-8 at Towson); Men (Nov. 6-8 at Northeastern/Charleston and Nov. 13-15 at Drexel).
*Ivy League (8 men's soccer teams, 8 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
*Missouri Valley (6 men's soccer teams, 8 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 18. Format: conference-only schedule. Tournament: no announcement.
*Northeast (11 men's soccer teams, 12 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
Ohio Valley (11 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 17. Format: conference-only schedule. Tournament: no announcement.
*Patriot League (8 men's soccer teams, 8 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
Southern (7 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams) Season start: no announcement. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: Women (top four teams) Men (top four teams).
Southland (10 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 1. Format: no restrictions announced on conference or non conference matches. Tournament: four teams Nov. 6-8 at site to be determined.
*SWAC (10 women's soccer teams). fall season cancelled.
*Postponed football.

Conferences with no football:
America East (8 men's soccer teams, 9 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
Atlantic 10 (13 men's soccer teams, 14 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
Atlantic Sun (7 men's soccer teams, 9 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 18. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: no announcement.
Big East (11 men's soccer teams, 11 women's soccer teams). Season start: no announcement. Format: conference play in divisional double-round robin; no non-conference matches. Tournament: no announcement.
Big West (9 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
Horizon (9 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams) Season start: Oct. 1. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: no announcement.
MAAC (11 men's soccer teams, 11 women's soccer teams) fall season postponed.
Summit (6 men's soccer teams, 9 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 23. Format: conference-only schedule. Tournament: no announcement.
WAC (12 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams). Season start: Sept. 10. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: Women (Nov. 4-8 at Grand Canyon University); Men (Nov. 11-15 at UNLV).
WCC (8 men's soccer teams, 10 women's soccer teams) Season start: Sept. 24. Format: no restrictions on conference or non-conference matches. Tournament: none.
Note: conference teams include those in reclassification process.

2 comments about "College soccer: Uncertainty on eve of NCAA Division I season".
  1. Ric Fonseca, August 8, 2020 at 6:20 p.m.

    Re: the "postponment" of fall sports to transition to play in the winter/spring months, this was bound to happen.  However, as one who has been deeply involved in the sport and having "just" retired as a Community College professor of history and soccer coach, I find it "odd" and "interesting" that the esteemed group of SA writers seem to "always" - well not "always, always" but a lot of the times, do not seem to cover our sport at the community college level.  I can not only speak for my neck of the woods, the Greater Los Angeles/Orange/Ventura/San Bernardino-Riverside counties, where there are atleast fifty community college soccer programs M/W, the stat's California Commission on Athletics (CCA) pontificated about four weeks ago that all sports are to be played in the Winter/Spring time frame, and it will be a very interesting scenario and an excellent time for the college administration and departments of intercollegiate athletics to learn how to work together.  Won't be easy, so I believe the old saying is "All hands on deck."
    I might point out - yet again - that here in Los Angeles, the mammoth Los Angeles School district's boys/girls soccer teams have usually played in the fall.  But their counterparts of other districts that compete under the banner of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and the "Southern Section" compete during the winter months.  Most of these Southern Section schools include private and parochial schools, and I must say the competition is of some high caliber, and even some of these schools field some very, very competitive football and basketball teams.  
    Lastly, the California Community colleges are not full fledged members of the National Junior College Athletics Assoication, and thus many of the soccer teams are not ranked in the annual Nation polls - though this recently began to change, the national ranking processes, despite the plain mere and brutal fact that there are some very good community college teams here in the Golden State.  I am sure there is much to share, but I shall leave it as is, unless some of you readers out there can add to the California scene. 

  2. Ric Fonseca, August 8, 2020 at 6:25 p.m.

    Sorry, then I thought I'd leave it be, re: several So California NCAA Division III soccer programs, e.g. the Claremont-McKenna Universities, are way out in the East side of Los Angeles, and admissions requirements are very extensive and I must add, expensive and given they do not award athletic scholarships - included in the So Cal DIII teams, throw in Cal Tech Institute of Technology, Occidental College, and several more I 've forgotten.  PLAY ON!!!

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