2015 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

In the men's championship division finals, the 2000 champions, Penn State, would face North Carolina in their national finals debut. While all of Penn State's previous 5 games were within a goal, North Carolina would cut it much closer, requiring extra time in their previous two games, including a nine-round penalty shootout with Illinois in the semifinals. Despite playing nearly 30 extra minutes, North Carolina started early with a goal from Eric Rossitch in the 5th minute off of a header near the 6-yard box off of a free kick. A goal in the last minute by Daniel Goff while Penn State had all 11 men in North Carolina's half would see North Carolina win 2–0. This was North Carolina's first national title and the first national title by a Region II team, the only region who hadn't had a team claim a men's championship national title.

In the women's championship finals, the 2012 champions, Michigan State, would face Colorado State who were looking on claiming their fourth national title. Both teams required extra time in the semifinals and Colorado State further needed penalty kicks to decide not only the semifinals, but also the quarterfinals. Following the trend for both teams, the game would remain 0-0 after 80 minutes, meaning extra time would be required. Four minutes into extra time, eventual MVP Danielle Manning of Michigan State would break the deadlock with a sudden-victory goal that gave Michigan State their second women's national title. Both of Michigan State's titles were won in extra time.

In the men's open finals, Oregon would return to the open finals after their title 10 years ago in 2005 to face UC-Davis who were making their debut. Coming in, Oregon won each of their previous 5 games by at least 2 goals while UC-Davis had only given up a single goal. UC-Davis would go up 2–1 in the match, but Oregon's Henry Fassinger would score a penalty kick late into the game to tie the game at 2-2, forcing the game into extra time. Eventual MVP, Andrew Saenz of Oregon, would score a sudden-victory goal to secure Oregon's 3–2 win and their second national title.[2]

In the women's open finals, 2012 open champions, JMU, would face last year's open runners-up UCLA. Coming in, JMU would require a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals while UCLA required extra time in the semifinals. UCLA would redeem their finals loss the previous year and defeat JMU 2–0, claiming their second open title. Isis Piccillo of UCLA would be named MVP.[1][3]

The competition consisted of 96 teams: 48 men's teams and 48 women's teams. Each of these divisions were further divided into two 24-team divisions: the championship and open. The championship division divided teams into eight groups of three while the open division divided teams into six groups of four, both engaging in a round-robin tournament that determined teams able to advance to a knockout stage. Pool play games were two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime and utilized the three points for a win system. In the championship division, the two highest ranked teams from each group advanced to their knockout stage, with the third placed team advancing to a consolation bracket. In the open division, the top team from each group as well as the two best second placed teams advanced to their knockout stage.

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. If a knockout-stage game was tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime consisted of one, 15-minute, golden-goal period. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.[4]

Each of the six regions received three automatic bids for both the men's and women's championship that they awarded to its members. The final six bids were considered "at-large", and were given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on their regional tournament results and RPI.[5]

The 48 remaining teams participated in the open division and were selected via a lottery draw that aired on YouTube on September 29, 2015, at 4pm EST. If a selected team qualified for the championship division, an alternate took their spot. 41 men's teams and 40 women's were selected.[6][7]