The 2001 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 8th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama from Thursday, November 15 to Saturday, November 17, 2001.
In the finals, four-time champions, BYU, would return to their 5th finals to face finals debutants, Illinois. In the group stage, BYU would win all three games, first beating Cornell 4âÂÂ0, then North Carolina 3âÂÂ0, and finally 1995 champions Texas 4âÂÂ3, making them a shutout short of a perfect group stage performance. Meanwhile, Illinois would beat Miami (OH) 3âÂÂ2, then would lose to Weber State 2âÂÂ3, but would win their finale against Navy 4âÂÂ1 to win their group on the head-to-head tiebreaker after drawing to Miami (OH) on points.
In the knockout round, Illinois would defeat North Carolina 4âÂÂ3 in the quarterfinals then would beat Michigan 1âÂÂ0 in overtime to reach their first finals. Meanwhile, BYU would beat SCSL (now SCSA) tournament runners-up Mississippi State 7âÂÂ1. Then, in a rematch of the previous year's semifinals where BYU's 4-title run and 28-game national championship win streak was broken by eventual champions, Penn State, in penalties. This time, the match was won by BYU 4âÂÂ1, ending Penn State's own 53-game win streak. Penn State notably had Anthony Calvano, who following this season would walk onto Penn State's varsity team and eventually play in the USL Second Division and USL Pro. In the finals, BYU would defeat Illinois 4âÂÂ0, including a goal from sophomore Matt Affleck winning their 5th title in 6 years. BYU's goalkeeper, John Morris, would be named MVP after posting 3 shutouts.
In the finals, back-to-back runners-up in 1997 and 1998, and regional champions Penn State, would face the first region 6 team to make the women's championship finals, UC-Santa Barbara in their second year as a club. Prior to this, in the group stage, UC-Santa Barbara would win their opener 3âÂÂ1 against Georgia with goals from junior Monique Gregoine, sophomore Vida Tafoya, and sophomore Sarah Battin. They then defeated two-time champion and regional runners-up Miami (OH) 2âÂÂ1 with goals from senior co-captain Jessica Duggan and freshman Marina Karag. Their group stage finale ended in a 1âÂÂ1 draw with a goal from sophomore Sarah Battin against 2nd in the group, Delaware, giving UC-Santa Barbara the first seed in the group. Meanwhile, Penn State would win their opener 2âÂÂ1 against Illinois, then would draw their second match 0âÂÂ0 against Texas A&M, and despite losing their finale 1âÂÂ0 against Arizona, a Texas A&M loss ensured Penn State would advance with the second place in the group.
In the knockout round, UC-Santa Barbara beat Michigan State 1âÂÂ0 in the quarterfinals with a goal from senior co-captain Alison Conway; then, following a 1âÂÂ1 draw in regulation where UCSB's freshman Veronica Noone scored and a scoreless overtime, would defeat Arizona after 9 rounds of a penalty shootout in the semifinals to advance to their first finals. Meanwhile, Penn State would defeat two-time champion, Colorado, in penalties following a 3âÂÂ3 draw in the quarterfinals, then would beat reigning champion, Michigan, 3âÂÂ2 in the semifinals to advance to their third finals in 5 years. In the finals, Penn State would score the lone goal of the game and claim their first national title. Penn State's Marcia Haradon would go on to be named MVP.
In the finals, 1997 open champions and three straight championship runners-up from 1998âÂÂ2000, Texas Tech, would face finals debutants, Ohio State. In the group stage, Texas Tech would win their opener 3âÂÂ2 over Northern Arizona and draw with Georgia Tech 1âÂÂ1 in their finale. Meanwhile, Ohio State would defeat MTSU 2âÂÂ0 in their opener then lost 0âÂÂ2 to Rice on goals from Rice's Mark Doughty and Blake Borgeson. Facing a potential elimination without any games left to play, a 1-0 Rice win over MTSU in the group stage finale secured Ohio State's spot in the knockout round as the two seed in their group where they'd face Florida.
In the round of 16, both teams would score 7 goals with Ohio State defeating Florida 7âÂÂ1 and Texas Tech defeating Georgia Southern 7âÂÂ0. In the quarterfinals, Ohio State would beat Kansas 2âÂÂ1 to advance to the Saturday semifinals where they would defeat Arizona 4âÂÂ1 to advance to their first finals. Meanwhile, Texas Tech would face Utah Valley State in the quarterfinals and scored two goals early then received a red card but were able to hold them off 2âÂÂ1 to advance to the semifinals where they defeated the back-to-back, reigning champions, JMU, 3âÂÂ0. In the finals, Ohio State would defeat Texas Tech 3âÂÂ2 to claim their first title. Ohio State's sophomore, Ian Gordona, would go on to be named MVP. The following year, Gordona would attempt to walk on to the varsity team but would be unsuccessful; however, he later would be named the assistant coach of the varsity team in 2014.
In the finals, inaugural champions and reigning championship runners-up, Ohio State, would take on finals debutants Colorado's "Black" team, also known as their B-team, in a rematch of their group stage opener. In the opener, Colorado would defeat Ohio State 2âÂÂ1 but despite this, Ohio State would win the group after they beat Texas Tech 5âÂÂ0 and Florida 2âÂÂ0 while Colorado would beat Florida 2âÂÂ0 but would lose to Texas Tech 0âÂÂ1.
In the quarterfinals, Colorado "Black" would take on their in-state rival, Colorado State's, "Green" team, also known as their B-team, which Colorado would win 4âÂÂ1 while Ohio State would defeat Kansas, in a rematch of the inaugural inaugural 1995 open title game, 2âÂÂ0. In the semifinals, Colorado would defeat reigning open champions, Virginia, 2âÂÂ0 to advance to their first finals while Ohio State would defeat Princeton 1âÂÂ0 to reach their second finals. In the finals, the game would be tied 1âÂÂ1 after regulation, but Colorado "Black" would score a golden goal in overtime to defeat Ohio State and claim their first open title. Colorado sophomore Jessie Chrismer of the "Black" team would go on to be named division MVP. Following this tournament, Chrismer would walk on to Colorado's varsity team where she would appear in 5 matches and would record a single assist which was against Oklahoma on October 25, 2002, to Kristina Lamberty in what would end up being the game winner.
The competition consisted of 72 teams partitioned into 40 men's teams and 32 women's teams. Each of these partitions were further divided into an invite-only championship division and an open division. The men's open division had 24 teams divided into eight groups of three teams each while the remaining three divisions had 16 teams divided into four groups of four. All 4 divisions began with a round-robin tournament where teams played each of the other teams in their group once. Following this, the two best teams in each group advanced to a single-elimination, 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:
The knockout stage was a 16-team tournament for the men's open division and an 8-team tournament for the remaining divisions. To ensure all teams played three games, the men's open division had a consolation knockout stage which was also an 8-team tournament composed of the team that finished last in their group. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner, so if one was tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime in the round of 16 and quarterfinals consisted of two, 5-minute, golden-goal periods while in the semifinals and finals, overtime consisted of two, 10-minute, golden-goal 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.
NIRSA extended invitations to the 16 men's and 16 women's teams to participate in the championship division beginning on October 22, 2001, with those invitations being extend to who NIRSA believed were the best in the nation. The teams that participated in the open division were chosen on a first-come first-serve basis with registration beginning on September 3, 2001.
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