In association football, or soccer, scoring a goal is the only method of scoring. In National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I soccer, there is no formal award for a golden boot, which indicates the top goalscorer in American college soccer for the season. Despite this, the NCAA keeps record of the season goalscoring leader by season.
From 1959 to 1971, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (ISFA). Then, from 1972 to 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)". Since 1974, the NCAA has been broken down into three divisions.
Below is a list of the NCAA Division I men's soccer season goals leaders since the NCAA sponsored men's soccer in 1959.
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The NACDA Directors' Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup or simply as the Directors' Cup, is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and universities in the United States with the most success in collegiate athletics. Points for the NACDA Directors' Cup are based on order of finish in various championships sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) or, in the case of Division I Football, media-based polls. A first-place finish in a sport earns 100 points, second place 90 points, third place 85 points, fourth place 80 points, and lesser values for lower finishes (exact numbers beyond fourth place depend on the sport and division.
The Texas A&M Aggies are the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also simply referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Aggies," and the official school colors are maroon and white. The mascot is a rough collie named Reveille.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football game on November 6, 1869, in which Rutgers defeated a team from the College of New Jersey with a score of 6 runs to 4.
Dov Markus is an Israeli-American former soccer player. At Long Island University he was the first recipient of the Hermann Trophy, as the outstanding collegiate soccer player of the year, and was a two-time All American. In 1965 as a sophomore, Markus scored 35 goals in 14 games for 70 points, at the time both the most-ever goals and the most-ever points in an NCAA season. Over his three-year career, Markus scored 79 goals, setting a new NCAA career record, in 49 games. Markus played a season with the New York Generals of the North American Soccer League, and played in the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel for the United States.
The South Florida Bulls are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, a non-NCAA sanctioned varsity sport which competes in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association within the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association. Additionally, the school will become an affiliate member of Conference USA in the sport of beach volleyball beginning in 2025 because the American Athletic Conference does not sponsor the sport. The current athletic director is Michael Kelly, who has held the job since 2018. The school colors are green and gold and the mascot is Rocky D. Bull.
The Wofford Terriers are the athletic teams that represent the Wofford College, located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in intercollegiate sports at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Southern Conference since the 1997–98 academic year. Wofford and the other SoCon members play football in the Football Championship Subdivision. Prior to the 1995–96 year, the Terriers played in Division II in all sports, and until the 1988–89 period, Wofford's athletic teams were members of the NAIA. The football team plays in Gibbs Stadium. The basketball teams moved to the new Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium for the 2017–18 season.
The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I as a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since men's soccer is not sponsored by the Big 12, they play in the Sun Belt Conference.
The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as UC Santa Barbara or UCSB, the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports with the majority competing in the Big West Conference. UCSB currently fields varsity teams in 10 men's sports and 9 women's sports.
The Furman Paladins are the varsity athletic teams representing Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, in intercollegiate athletics.
The UC Davis Aggies are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis.
The Wake Forest University Demon Deacons men's soccer team is an NCAA Division I college soccer team composed of students attending Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They achieved their greatest result in 2007, winning the 2007 Division I Men's College Cup. Like all sports teams from Wake Forest, men's soccer competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Deacons play their home matches at Spry Stadium on the campus of Wake Forest.
The High Point Panthers are the 17 varsity athletic teams that represent High Point University (HPU) in High Point, North Carolina, United States. All of HPU's varsity teams compete at the NCAA Division I level. All sports except men's lacrosse and women's rowing compete in the Big South Conference. The men's lacrosse team joined the Atlantic 10 Conference after the 2022 season. Women's rowing was added in 2024–25, initially competing as an independent until joining the new rowing league of the Mid-American Conference in 2025–26. The Panthers joined Division I in 1999, after having been NCAA Division II and being members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) prior to 1992. HPU was a founding member of the North State Conference, which is now the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas.
The Davenport Panthers are the athletic teams that represent Davenport University, located in Caledonia Township, Michigan, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) for most of its sports as a provisional member since the 2017–18 academic year. The Panthers previously competed in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2005–06 to 2016–17.
The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 58th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 26 and continued into the first weekend of November 2016. The season culminated with the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in December 2016. There were 206 teams in men's Division I competition. The defending champions were Stanford who defeated Clemson 4–0 to win its first NCAA soccer title. The season concluded with Stanford defending its title by defeating Wake Forest 5–4 in a penalty kick shootout following a 0–0 double-overtime draw.
The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer championship game was the final game of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship, determining the national champion for the 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The match was played on December 11, 2016, at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas, a soccer-specific stadium that is home to Major League Soccer club, Houston Dynamo. Stanford of the Pac-12 Conference won the match, and successfully defended their national championship. Stanford defeated Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The crowd of 6,315 saw the match decided on penalty kicks, where Stanford prevailed on a 5–4 scoreline, following a 0–0 draw in regulation and overtime. The title was Stanford's second ever title, in their fourth-ever appearance. It was Wake Forest's second appearance in the final.
The 2017 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 59th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 25 and continued into the first weekend of November 2017. The season culminated with the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship and the four-team College Cup finals at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, December 8–10. There were 205 teams in men's Division I competition. The two-time defending champions, the Stanford Cardinal, won their third consecutive championship by downing the previously undefeated Indiana Hoosiers 1–0 in double overtime.
The Saint Louis–SIU Edwardsville men's soccer rivalry is an American college soccer rivalry between the Saint Louis University Billikens and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars. The winner of each year's game receives the Bronze Boot.
The 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer championship game was played on December 15, 2019, at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina and determined the winner of the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, the national collegiate soccer championship in the United States. This was the 61st edition of the oldest active competition in United States college soccer.
The 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was the 62nd edition of the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's college soccer. Pending developments with the COVID-19 pandemic, the first four rounds of the competition were scheduled to be held at the home ground of the higher seed, while the College Cup was to be held at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California. The championship match was originally scheduled to take place on December 13, 2020.