NCAA Divison I Men's College Soccer Preview | Spring 2021

The NCAA Division I Men's College Soccer season is kicking off this week. This will be a unique season for an abundance of reasons, but the most significant difference is the starting date. Typically Division I college soccer takes place in the fall.

However, this year, due to the pandemic, many conferences and universities pushed their season back to the spring semester in an attempt to roll out the college soccer season safely.

Another thing to note is that the NCAA decided to hold a lower-scaled tournaments for Division I Men's college soccer this season that will take place in April and May. It will not be the usual 48 team tournament that generally occurs at the end of the year. Nevertheless, there will be a champion crowned at the end of the season.

Below will be a preview of all the college soccer conferences and teams that will be taking place this season, along with their season start date.

NCAA Division I College Soccer Conference participation

All but two Division I Men's college soccer conferences will be playing this spring. The two who chose not to play a spring season in neither men's and women's soccer are the Big West Conference and Ivy League.

As for the conferences that are participating beginning in early February, below is how each team ranks going into the season. The number to the right of each team represents their 2019 Rating Percentage Index (RPI), via NCAA.com.

For example: Virginia is in the ACC conference, and they currently have an RPI ranking of "1". Therefore, you will see the number "1" listed to the right of Virginia's name.

American Athletic Conference - Begins play on February 6

• SMU (3)
• UCF (6)
• USF (34)
• Memphis (38)
• Temple (39)
• Tulsa (103)
• Cincinnati (125)

Atlantic Coast Conference - Begins play on February 13

• Virginia (1)
• Clemson (4)
• Wake Forest (5)
• Virginia Tech (7)
• Louisville (16)
• Notre Dame (22)
• Boston College (25)
• Pittsburgh (30)
• Syracuse (32)
• NC State (37)
• North Carolina (41)
• Duke (58)

America East Conference - Begins play on February 26

• New Hampshire (17)
• Albany (50)
• Vermont (56)
• Hartford (63)
• UMass Lowell (90)
• Binghamton (128)
• UMBC (132)
• Stony Brook (144)

Atlantic 10 Conference - Begins play on February 3

• Saint Louis (60)
• Rhode Island (75)
• Dayton (76)
• La Salle (121)
• VCU (133)
• Fordham (147)
• Massachusetts (156)
• Saint Joseph's (164)
• Duquesne (166)
• Davidson (172)
• George Washington (182)
• St. Bonaventure (185)
• George Mason (195)

Atlantic Sun Conference - Begins play on February 3

• FGCU (79)
• Stetson (100)
• NJIT (106)
• North Florida (114)
• Jacksonville (141)
• Lipscomb (153)
• Liberty (202)

Big East Conference - Begins play on February 3

• Georgetown (2)
• St. John' s - New York (9)
• Providence (12)
• Butler (28)
• Creighton (48)
• Villanova (54)
• Marquette (66)
• DePaul (71)
• Xavier (73)
• Seton Hall (87)

Big South Conference - Begins play on February 14

• High Point (47)
• Gardner-Webb (139)
• Radford (171)
• USC Upstate (176)
• Presbyterian (180)
• Longwood (186)
• Winthrop (198)
• UNC Asheville (201)

Big Ten Conference - Begins play on February 10

• Indiana (14)
• Penn St. (23)
• Michigan (24)
• Maryland (26)
• Northwestern (72)
• Ohio St. (82)
• Rutgers (95)
• Wisconsin (123)
• Michigan St. (131)

CAA - Begins play on February 13

• James Madison (36)
• UNCW (64)
• Hofstra (94)
• William & Mary (113)
• Elon (134)
• Northwestern (149)
• Drexel (158)
• Delaware (165)
• College of Charleston (187)

Conference USA - Begins play on February 3

• Marshall (13)
• Charlotte (19)
• Kentucky (20)
• FIU (35)
• Fla. Atlantic (77)
• South Carolina (91)
• Old Dominion (146)
• UAB (148)

Horizon League - Begins play on February 4

• UIC (55)
• Wright St. (70)
• Cleveland St. (111)
• Milwaukee (116)
• Oakland (122)
• Detroit Mercy (129)
• Northern Kentucky (162)
• Green Bay (163)
• IUPUI (193)

MAAC - Begins play on March 11

• Iona (65)
• Saint Peter's (93)
• Quinnipiac (97)
• Marist (105)
• Fairfield (126)
• Rider (138)
• Manhattan (155)
• Niagara (174)
• Siena (179)
• Monmouth (181)
• Canisius (204)

Mid-American (MAC) - Begins play on February 7

• Western Michigan (44)
• West Virginia (53)
• Akron (80)
• Bowling Green (86)
• SIUE (89)
• Northern III. (107)

Missouri Valley (MVC) - Begins play on February 3

• Missouri St. (15)
• Loyola Chicago (40)
• Drake (112)
• Valparaiso (150)
• Bradley (152)
• Evansville (190)

Northeast (NEC) - Begins play on February 22

• Merrimack (67)
• Saint Francis - Pennsylvania (101)
• LIU (115)
• Fairleigh Dickinson (120)
• St. Francis Brooklyn (136)
• Bryant (142)
• Mount St. Mary's (160)
• Sacred Heart (183)
• Robert Morris (192)
• Central Conn St. (197)

Pac-12 - Begins play on February 3

• Washington (8)
• Stanford (10)
• Oregon St. (51)
• California (52)
• UCLA (59)
• San Diego St. (135)

Patriot - Begins play on February 27

• Loyola Maryland (57)
• Lehigh (61)
• Navy (98)
• Colgate (117)
• Lafayette (143)
• Bucknell (161)
• Army West Point (169)
• Boston U. (175)
• American (178)
• Holy Cross (194)

Southern Conference (SoCon) - Begins play on February 5

• Mercer (99)
• Furman (118)
• UNC Greensboro (127)
• ETSU (140)
• Wofford (191)
• Belmont (203)
• VMI (206)

Summit League - Begins play on February 3

• Oral Roberts (81)
• Denver (104)
• Kansas City (157)
• Omaha (167)
• Western Illinois (184)
• Eastern Illinois (199)
• Purdue Fort Wayne (205)

Sun Belt Conference - Played conference schedule in the fall (*Spring non-conference schedule has not been released)

• Central Arkansas (33)
• Coastal Carolina (46)
• Georgia St. (62)
• Appalachian St. (69)
• Georgia Southern (130)
• Howard (200)

WAC - Begins play on February 3

• Seattle University (31)
• Utah Valley (83)
• UTRGV (102)
• CSU Bakersfield (137)
• Air Force (151)
• Houston Baptist (154)
• Grand Canyon (168)
• San Jose St. (170)
• UNLV (173)
• California Baptist (189)
• UIW (196)

WCC - Begins play on February 3

• Saint Mary's - California (18)
• LMU - California (29)
• San Diego (45)
• Portland (78)
• Pacific (108)
• Santa Clara (119)
• Gonzaga (124)
• San Francisco (159)

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Johnathan Wright is a contributing soccer writer for GMTM. He played college soccer for the University of Louisville and now is a freelance writer covering the sports of soccer and basketball for multiple media companies. Johnathan is also currently earning a Master of Science in Sport Business with a concentration in Sport Analytics from Temple University.