With college soccer’s regular season officially in the books, DI teams around the country are now competing for conference tournament titles and the NCAA championship bids they guarantee.
Each of Division I’s 30 conferences automatically send their tournament winner to the NCAA championship pool, with the rest of the 64-team national bracket decided by the governing body’s selection committee by Monday afternoon.
The toughest tickets to grab are in the Power Four conferences, which currently house 20 of the Top 25 ranked teams while fresh faces breathe new drama into some established title contests.
Duke soccer still dominating the ACC
With just one loss on the season, No. 1 Duke has dominated the college soccer field this year, outscoring opponents 53-10 to enter the postseason on a 15-match unbeaten streak.
Even more, the Blue Devils have done so in arguably the sport’s toughest conference. A full seven of the country’s Top-14 teams compete in the ACC.
Duke’s journey to a first-ever College Cup title begins with Thursday’s ACC tournament semifinals, where the Blue Devils will take on in-state rival and 21-time NCAA champs No. 8 UNC at 8 PM ET, with live coverage on ACCN.
If they can beat the Tar Heels for the third time this season, they’ll face either defending national champion No. 6 Florida State or No. 3 Wake Forest in Sunday’s tournament final.
SEC sees newcomers stir the college soccer pot
Like Duke in the ACC, No. 2 Mississippi State put together a historic season, scoring their highest-ever program ranking by tearing through the SEC on their way to a one-loss regular-season finish.
While the SEC isn’t quite as strong as the ACC, the top teams are well matched. Mississippi State defeated all three of the other ranked teams still in the SEC tournament — No. 5 Arkansas, No. 14 South Carolina, and No. 21 Texas — though only by a single goal in each contest.
For the Bulldogs to book their first-ever conference tournament trophy, they’ll first have to beat Tennessee in Tuesday’s 5:30 PM ET quarterfinal, airing on the SEC Network.
Big-time turnovers rock Big Ten college soccer
Fresh faces are ruling the Big Ten tournament, where three of the four semifinalists — No. 4 USC, No. 9 UCLA, and Washington — are conference rookies.
The former Pac-12 trio showed out this season, eclipsing traditional Big Ten powerhouses like No. 22 Penn State and 2023 title-winner No. 16 Michigan State in the race to the tournament title.
The lone conference veteran still in the mix is Rutgers, who’ll take on the top-seeded Trojans for the first time this year in Thursday’s 2 PM ET semifinal, before the Bruins aim to hand the Huskies a second loss at 4:30 PM ET, both airing on the Big Ten Network.
Pushing toward the NCAA championship bracket in the Big 12
The Big 12 is arguably NCAA soccer’s weakest Power conference with just two ranked teams, but that doesn’t mean the conference tournament is without teeth.
One of Wednesday’s four semifinalists — No. 7 TCU, No. 17 Texas Tech, 2023 College Cup semifinalist BYU, or Kansas — will emerge with the Big 12 trophy and a guaranteed spot in the NCAA tournament. The other three must wait until the selection committee decides their fate on Monday, making every minute left on the pitch a vital one.
How to watch this year’s NCAA soccer conference tournaments
All Power Four conference finals are set for this weekend, with the Big 12 kicking things off at 8 PM on Saturday, with live coverage on ESPN+.
Then on Sunday, the ACC and Big Ten finals begin at 12 PM ET, with the ACC airing on ESPNU and the Big Ten on the Big Ten Network.
Later, the SEC trophy will be on the line during the 2:30 PM ET final, broadcast by the SEC Network.
