In the men's championship finals, 2004 runners-up Colorado State would face finals debutants Indiana ensuring the men's championship division would crown a new winner. Coming into the finals, both teams tied a group stage game: Colorado State in their opener against Ohio State and Indiana in their finale against Florida. In the knockout round, Colorado State would beat North Carolina then 2000 champion Penn State, both by a score of 1-0, followed by a 2-1 overtime win over USC in the semifinals. Meanwhile, after winning their round of 16 match against Minnesota 3-0, Indiana would require penalty kicks to decide their next two matches: first against UW-Milwaukee in the quarterfinals with a score of 6-5 after seven kicks following a 0-0 score in regulation and then against Ohio State in the semifinals with a score of 7-6 following a 1-1 score in regulation. In the finals, Indiana would open the scoring in via a goal in the 3rd minute from eventual tournament MVP Samuel Delisio. This would prove to be the only goal of the game and would see Indiana win 1-0 and claim their first national title.[2]
In the women's championship finals, reigning champions UC-Santa Barbara would face finals debutants Arizona. Coming into the finals, UC-Santa Barbara would win all three group stage matches by an average margin of 5 goals while not conceding a goal in any of their games. In the knockout round, they'd beat four-time champion Colorado 2-0 in the quarterfinals but would require overtime in a 2-1 win over 2001 champions Penn State. Meanwhile, Arizona would win their first match against Michigan State 1-0, tie Colorado State 0-0 then lose to Penn State 1-0, advancing to the knockout round over Michigan State on the head-to-head tiebreaker. In the knockout round, Arizona would beat 2005 champion Michigan 2-1 in the quarterfinals then would require penalties against Dayton in the semifinals after a 0-0 score following regulation and overtime. They would win the shoot-out 4-2. In the finals, UC-Santa Barbara would open the scoring with a goal from eventual MVP Allie Browne in the 16th minute. They would then score the next three goals of the match in the 40th minute from Hannah Sasson, in the 46th minute from Natalie Lemonnier, and in the 75th minute from Shelly Murphy. A goal from Kara Mallari in the 76th minute from Arizona would be the last goal of the game as UC-Santa Barbara would win 4-1 and win their third national title; all within the last five years. This title would also mean UC-Santa Barbara would become the only outright women's championship back to back champion (Michigan would win back to back titles in 2004 and 2005, but the 2004 was not an outright title).
In the men's open finals, 2005 runners-up UC-Berkeley would face finals debutants Northern Iowa. While both teams began in group D, due to the format of the tournament this would be their first matchup. Coming into the finals, both teams would beat Minnesota State and Central Washington in the group stage; but, while UC-Berkeley would beat San Diego State 1-0 in their opener, Northern Iowa lose to them 2-0 in their group stage finale. In the knockout round, both teams would require overtime in the quarterfinals: UC-Berkeley would beat Alabama 3-2 in overtime while Northern Iowa would beat Villanova 4-2 in penalties after a 1-1 draw following regulation and overtime. Both teams would win their semifinal matchup 4-1 with UC-Berkeley's win over Virginia Tech and Northern Iowa's over Kansas. In the finals, UC-Berkeley would go on to beat Northern Iowa 5-0, claiming their first men's open title. UC-Berkeley's Ben Smith would go on to be named men's open MVP.
In the women's open finals, two finals debutants would face off: UCLA and East Carolina. Coming into the finals, would win all three group stage games while East Carolina would tie their opener to JMU 0-0 but would win their next two and would be a wild-card team after losing the automatic knockout round bid to JMU on goal difference. In the knockout round, UCLA would win their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups 3-1 against MTSU and JMU respectively while East Carolina would win their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups 1-0 over Towson and UC-Berkeley respectively. In the finals, UCLA would go on to win 2-0 and claim their first women's open title. UCLA's Kyrstie Wade would be named women's open MVP.[3]
The competition consisted of 77 teams: 40 championship teams and 37 open teams. The divisions were further divided into a men's and women's division: 24 men's and 16 women's teams in the championship division and 19 women's and 18 men's teams in the open division. The divisions were then further divided into groups: eight groups of three teams in the men's championship, four teams of four teams in the women's championship, three groups of four plus two groups of three in the men's open, and four groups of four plus one group of 3 in the women's open with all four divisions engaging in a round-robin tournament that determined teams able to advance to a knockout stage. In all but the three team groups in the men's open division, each team played each other team in their group once while the two three-team groups in the men's open played every team in the opposing three-team group once. Pool play games were two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime and utilized the three points for a win system. After group stage play, the two highest ranked teams from each group in the championship division advanced to their respective knockout stage, with the third placed team in the men's championship advancing to a consolation bracket and the third and fourth placed teams in the women's championship being eliminated. In the open divisions, each pool winner automatically advanced in addition to three additional wild-card teams. Positions 1 and 8 were given to first place teams in groups that didn't have a wild-card team in order of tie-breaking procedures, positions 2, 6, and 7 were given to wild-card teams in order of tie-breaking procedures, and positions 5, 3, and 4 were given to the pool winners from the pools of the 2, 6, and 7 positioned wild-card teams, respectively.
Tie-breaking criteria for group play
The ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria in order:
In a tie breaking scenario involving more than 2 teams, the tiebreaker procedure would begin. If one team is identified as different and both remaining teams are still tied, the tie breaker procedure is restarted.
If a tie still remained after the first 5 criteria, the following was used to break a tie:
If there was a three-way tie, a coin-flip would be conducted. The two teams that chose the same outcome would compete in kicks from the mark between each other. The winner would compete with the last remaining team in kicks from the mark
If there's a four-way tie, a drawing of lots would be conducted (only could occur in open division)
Knockout stage games also consisted of two 40-minute halves. The round of 16 and quarterfinals were separated by a seven-minute halftime while the semifinals and finals had a ten-minute halftime. Knockout stage games needed to declare a winner, therefore if a game was tied at the end of regulation, one 15-minute, golden-goal overtime period would begin. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.[4]
Each of the six regions received three automatic bids for the men's championship division and two automatic bids for the women's championship that they awarded to its members. The final bids for each division were considered "at-large", and were given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on their regional tournament results and RPI.[5]
The remaining teams participated in the open division, chosen on a first-come first-serve basis via online registration beginning on September 12, 2008.[1]
