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 2-2 tie with Georgia and a 6–0 win over Clemson in their finale. Meanwhile, BYU defeated Baylor 3-1 in a rematch of the 1996 finals, 1994 champions Purdue 4-1, and hosts Georgia Southern 5-0.
In the quarterfinals, BYU would defeat 1995 champions, Texas, 3-0 while Texas Tech would defeat Illinois 1-0. In the semifinals, BYU would defeat Salt Lake CC 5–0 in a rematch of last year's quarterfinal matchup that BYU won 2–1 while Texas Tech would defeat hosts Georgia Southern 4-1 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.[2][3][4][5][6]
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 3-0. 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 3-1 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 1-0 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.[7][8]
Men's open
In the finals, LSU would face off against Virginia in a rematch of their second group stage match. In the group stage, both teams would win their opener with LSU beating Rutgers 3-0 and Virginia beating Grand Valley State 1-0. In their second group stage match, Virginia would score the lone goal of the match against LSU to win 1-0. In the finale, both teams would win with LSU beating Grand Valley State 5-0 and Virginia beating Rutgers 2-0, meaning Virginia would top the group to face group H runners-up, Oregon, in the quarterfinals while LSU would face Group H winners, JMU "Purple".
In the quarterfinals, Virginia would win 2-1 and would face JMU's "Gold" team in the semifinals while LSU would win 4-0 and face Daytona Beach CC. In the semifinals, would once again win 2-1 and LSU would win 3-1 to set up the group stage rematch. In this rematch, LSU would this time be victorious after scoring the lone goal of the match en route to a 1–0 win over Virginia and would claim their first open title. LSU's Andre Dugas would go on to be named the tournament's MVP.[9]
Women's open
In the finals, Florida State would face off against reigning women's open runners-up, Colorado State "Green", otherwise known as Colorado State's "B" or second team in a rematch of both teams' second game. Prior to this, in the group stage, both teams would win their opener with Florida State beating LSU 3-0 and Colorado State "Green" beating Georgia Tech 2-0. In the second match, both teams would face off and Colorado State "Green" would defeat Florida State in dominate fashion, 5-1. In the finale, Colorado State "Green" would defeat hosts Georgia Southern 9-0 while Florida State would defeat NW Missouri State 3-1. Both teams would end up topping their respective groups, meaning they automatically advanced to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, both teams would secure a 3-0 victory with Florida State defeating Georgia Tech, who defeated hosts Georgia Southern 4-1 in the opening round, while Colorado State "Green" defeated NW Missouri State who defeated LSU in penalties in their opening matchup. In the finals, the game would be deadlocked at 1-1 after regulation and overtime, meaning penalties would be required to determine a winner joining the current year's women's championship division in being the first championship games requiring penalties. Colorado State "Green" would go on to win in penalties and defeat Florida State to claim their first open title. Colorado State "Green's Courtney Kramer would be named the tournament's MVP.[10]
Format
The competition consisted of 54 teams partitioned into 32 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. All divisions except the women's open were divided into four groups of four teams with the women's open division having two groups of three teams each.
All 4 divisions began with a round-robin tournament. All teams except for ones in the women's open division played each of the other teams in their group once with teams in the women's open division playing 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 and the winners of each group receiving a bye to the semifinals.
The first metric for determining the best team in each group 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 an 8-team tournament for all divisions except the women's open which had a 6-team tournament. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner, meaning if one was tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime consisted of two complete 5-minute periods. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.
All games consisted of two 40-minute halves with pool play and quarterfinal games were separated by a seven-minute halftime while the halves in the semifinals and finals were separated by 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.[11]
