2020 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season

2020 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Soccer
Duration	February 3, 2021 – April 17, 2021
Number of teams	9
2021 MLS SuperDraft
Top draft pick	Josh Penn, 10th overall
Picked by	Inter Miami
Regular Season
Tournament
Big Ten Conference men's soccer seasons
← 2019 2021 →

2020 Big Ten Conference men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Indiana ‡	7	–	1	–	0			12	–	2	–	2
No. 11 Penn State +	6	–	1	–	1			10	–	2	–	2
Michigan	5	–	3	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
Maryland +	4	–	3	–	1			4	–	5	–	2
Rutgers	4	–	4	–	0			4	–	4	–	1
Michigan State	4	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Ohio State	3	–	5	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Northwestern	2	–	7	–	1			2	–	8	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	7	–	1			2	–	7	–	1
‡ – 2020 B1G Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2020 NCAA Tournament As of May 28, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: Big Ten

The 2020 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season is the 30th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season was originally scheduled to begin on August 28 and conclude on November 8, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was postponed to start February 3, 2021 and conclude on April 17, 2021.

The season will culminate with the 2020 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament to determine the conference's automatic berth into the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament.

Indiana enters the season as the two-time defending regular season and tournament champions.

Background

Previous season

Main article: 2019 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season

The previous season was the 29th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The 2019 Big Ten regular season began on August 30, 2019 concluded on November 3, 2019. The season culminated with the 2019 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament to determine the conference's automatic berth into the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. Indiana went on to win both the regular season and the tournament, winning seven of their eight of their Big Ten Conference games. They defeated Penn State in the Big Ten Men's Soccer Championship Game.

With the Big Ten title, Indiana earned the conference's automatic berth into the 2019 NCAA Tournament, where Maryland, Michigan, and Penn State joined as at-large berths. Maryland and Penn State were eliminated in the Second Round, while Michigan and Indiana were eliminated in the Third Round.

In the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, Jack Maher was selected second-overall in the draft, being selected by expansion team, Nashville SC. Nine total Big Ten players were selected in the draft; tied for the second most of all conferences.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Further information: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football

Like most Big Ten sports, men's soccer played a conference-only schedule for the 2020–21 academic year. Additionally, like many fall sports, the season was postponed to the spring.

Head coaches

As of the 2019 season

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school [1]	Big Ten record [1]	NCAA Tournaments [2]	NCAA College Cups [2]	NCAA Titles [2]
Indiana	Todd Yeagley	Wisconsin	9	129–54–36 (.671) [3]	122–45–34 (.692) [3]	35–15–18 (.647) [3]	10	3	1
Maryland	Sasho Cirovski	Hartford	26	412–156–60 (.704) [4]	386–143–53 (.709) [4]	24–9–7 (.688) [4]	25	9	3
Michigan	Chaka Daley	Providence	7	151–165–48 (.481) [5] [6]	61–54–21 (.526) [5] [6]	23–20–9 (.529) [5] [6]	3	0	0
Michigan State	Damon Rensing	Michigan State (asst.)	10	117–66–30 (.620) [7]	117–66–30 (.620) [7]	31–26–13 (.536) [7]	8	1	0
Northwestern	Tim Lenahan	Lafayette	18	305–209–72 (.582)	169–140–51 (.540)	36–60–20 (.397)	9	0	0
Ohio State	Brian Maisonneuve	Indiana (asst.)	2	1–15–2 (.111)	1–15–2 (.111)	0–7–1 (.063)	0	0	0
Penn State	Jeff Cook	Bethlehem Steel (asst.)	2	127–104–36 (.543)	6–9–2 (.412)	3–3–2 (.500)	9	0	0
Rutgers	Jim McElderry	Fordham	1	127–125–37 (.503)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	3	0	0
Wisconsin	John Trask	UIC	10	129–96–55 (.559)	75–72–29 (.509)	26–28–10 (.484)	2	0	0

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on February 18, 2021. Indiana was selected unanimously as the favorite to win the Big Ten. ^[8]

	Team Ranking
1.	Indiana
2.	Maryland
3.	Penn State
4.	Michigan
5.	Michigan State
6.	Northwestern
7.	Rutgers
8.	Wisconsin
9.	Ohio State

Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were released in January and February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

	United Soccer	CSN [9]	Top Drawer Soccer [10]
Indiana	—	6	7
Maryland	—	12	21
Michigan	—	13	RV
Michigan State	—	—	—
Northwestern	—	—	—
Ohio State	—	—	—
Penn State	—	21	23
Rutgers	—	—	—
Wisconsin	—	—	—

Regular season

B1G member won	B1G member lost	B1G member tied
All times in Central Time

Conference results

Each team plays every four other conference team twice; once home and once away, and then four other conference teams once.

Home \ Away	IU	UMD	MICH	MSU	NW	OSU	PSU	RUT	WIS
Indiana	—	PPD.	—	2–1	3–0	3–0	PPD.	—	3–0
Maryland	—	—	—	Mar. 19	—	Feb. 27	Mar. 31	Mar. 23	Mar. 7
Michigan	Mar. 27	Mar. 11	—	1–0	—	Mar. 31	Mar. 3	—	—
Michigan State	—	—	Mar. 23	—	Mar. 11	Mar. 3	—	0–2	Mar. 31
Northwestern	Feb. 27	Mar. 27	1–4	—	—	—	Mar. 19	—	Mar. 15
Ohio State	—	—	Mar. 15	Apr. 4	Mar. 7	—	Mar. 23	Mar. 27	—
Penn State	—	3–2	—	Feb. 27	—	—	—	Mar. 15	Mar. 27
Rutgers	Mar. 19	Mar. 3	Mar. 7	—	Apr. 4	—	1–2	—	—
Wisconsin	Mar. 11	—	Apr. 4	—	2–5	Mar. 19	—	Feb. 27	—

Source: Big Ten Conference
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Indiana	2	1
Michigan	1	2
Penn State	4	3
Rutgers	3
Maryland	5
Michigan State	6
Ohio State	7
Wisconsin	8
Northwestern	9

	Quarterfinal host
	Quarterfinal
	Play-in round

Source: BigTen.com

Postseason

Big Ten Tournament

Main article: 2020 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament

The Big Ten Tournament was played from April 10–17.

	Quarterfinals April 10					Semifinals April 14					Championship April 17
	1	Indiana	3
	8	Northwestern	0
						1	Indiana	2
						4	Maryland	0
	4	Maryland (p)	1 (5)
	5	Rutgers	1 (4)
											1	Indiana (p)	1 (3)
											2	Penn State	1 (2)
	3	Michigan	1
	6	Michigan State	0
						3	Michigan	1
						2	Penn State	4
	2	Penn State	3
	7	Ohio State	1

NCAA Tournament

Main article: 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament

The NCAA Tournament will begin in April 2021 and conclude on May 17, 2021.

Seed	Region	School	1st Round	2nd Round	3rd Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
W–L–T (%):			0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–) Total: 0–0–0 (–)

References

1. "Big Ten Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). Big Ten Conference . bigten.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
2. "NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association . ncaa.org. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
3. "Todd Yeagley". iuhoosiers.com. Indiana University. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
4. "Sasho Cirovski". umterps.com. University of Maryland. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
5. "Michigan Men's Soccer Year-by-Year Results". mgoblue. Board of Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
6. "2018 Men's Soccer Record Book". issuu.com. Issuu Inc. July 24, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
7. "Damon Rensing". msuspartans.com. Michigan State Spartans Athletics. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
8. "Indiana Tops 2020 Big Ten Men's Soccer Preseason Poll". bigten.org. February 18, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
9. "College Soccer News Spring 2021 Preseason Top 30 Men's College Soccer National Poll". CollegeSoccerNews.com. February 3, 2021. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
10. "College Soccer National Ranking > Men's DI Top 25". TopDrawer Soccer. February 1, 2021. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.

External links

• Big Ten Men's Soccer