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 4–0, then North Carolina 3–0, and finally 1995 champions Texas 4–3, making them a shutout short of a perfect group stage performance. Meanwhile, Illinois would beat Miami (OH) 3–2, then would lose to Weber State 2–3, but would win their finale against Navy 4–1 to win their group on the head-to-head tiebreaker after drawing to Miami (OH) on points.[3]
In the knockout round, Illinois would defeat North Carolina 4–3 in the quarterfinals then would beat Michigan 1–0 in overtime to reach their first finals. Meanwhile, BYU would beat SCSL (now SCSA) tournament runners-up Mississippi State 7–1. 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 4–1, 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.[4][5] In the finals, BYU would defeat Illinois 4–0, 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.[6][7][8][9]
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 3–1 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) 2–1 with goals from senior co-captain Jessica Duggan and freshman Marina Karag. Their group stage finale ended in a 1–1 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 2–1 against Illinois, then would draw their second match 0–0 against Texas A&M, and despite losing their finale 1–0 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 1–0 in the quarterfinals with a goal from senior co-captain Alison Conway; then, following a 1–1 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 3–3 draw in the quarterfinals, then would beat reigning champion, Michigan, 3–2 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.[10][11][12]
In the finals, 1997 open champions and three straight championship runners-up from 1998–2000, Texas Tech, would face finals debutants, Ohio State. In the group stage, Texas Tech would win their opener 3–2 over Northern Arizona and draw with Georgia Tech 1–1 in their finale. Meanwhile, Ohio State would defeat MTSU 2–0 in their opener then lost 0–2 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.[13]
In the round of 16, both teams would score 7 goals with Ohio State defeating Florida 7–1 and Texas Tech defeating Georgia Southern 7–0. In the quarterfinals, Ohio State would beat Kansas 2–1 to advance to the Saturday semifinals where they would defeat Arizona 4–1 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 2–1 to advance to the semifinals where they defeated the back-to-back, reigning champions, JMU, 3–0. In the finals, Ohio State would defeat Texas Tech 3–2 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.[14][15]
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 2–1 but despite this, Ohio State would win the group after they beat Texas Tech 5–0 and Florida 2–0 while Colorado would beat Florida 2–0 but would lose to Texas Tech 0–1.
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 4–1 while Ohio State would defeat Kansas, in a rematch of the inaugural 1995 open title game, 2–0. In the semifinals, Colorado would defeat reigning open champions, Virginia, 2–0 to advance to their first finals while Ohio State would defeat Princeton 1–0 to reach their second finals. In the finals, the game would be tied 1–1 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.[16]
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.[17]
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.[18]
