Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association


The NCAA held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, with eight teams selected for the tournament. Before 1959, national champions were selected by a committee of the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association based on season records and competition. In addition, the College Soccer Bowl tournament was held from 1950-1952 for the purpose of deciding a national champion on the field. The Soccer Bowl was a one-site competition involving four teams selected by college soccer administrators. However, the ISFA committee continued to select the national champion in those three years.

History

started in Northeast colleges and at private schools in the late 19th century, while club soccer was mostly played in the Midwest and the South. In the West, Stanford started up a soccer program in 1911, University of San Francisco in 1932, and UCLA in 1937, playing largely amateur teams. In 1945, at the end of the world war, the ISFA had only 22 member college teams. This grew to over 50 by 1947.
From 1905 through 1925, the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League determined an annual champion in College soccer. The league was dissolved after the 1925 season when Harvard and Yale threatened to resign citing dissatisfaction with the organization and scheduling saying its took players away from their educational studies too frequently. The former league pledged to create a new representative soccer association that could help govern the sport at a collegiate level. Soon after the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association was born offering an annual Outstanding Soccer Team award, the mythical national soccer championship, through 1935 and from 1946 through 1958.

ISFL / ISFA College Soccer National Champions

College champions were determined by various methods over the years as listed below. They are all considered unofficial.
YearChampion
1905Haverford
1906Haverford
1907Haverford
1908Haverford, Yale
1909Columbia
1910Columbia
1911Haverford
1912Yale
1913Harvard
1914Penn, Harvard
1915Haverford
1916Penn
1917Haverford
1918no competition
1919Penn
1920Penn
1921Princeton
1922Princeton
1923Penn
1924Penn
1925Princeton
1926Penn State, Princeton, Harvard
1927Princeton
1928Yale
1929Penn State
1930Penn, Yale, Harvard
1931Penn
1932Penn, Navy
1933Penn State, Penn
1934Cornell
1935Yale
1936Penn State, Princeton, West Chester, Syracuse
1937Penn State, Princeton, Springfield
1938Penn State
1939Penn State, Princeton
1940Penn State
1941No selection
1942No selection
1943No selection
1944No selection
1945Haverford
1946Springfield
1947Springfield
1948Connecticut
1949Penn State, San Francisco '
1950West Chester '
1951Temple
1952Franklin & Marshall
1953Temple
1954Penn State
1955Penn State, Brockport
1956Trinity
1957Springfield, City College of New York
1958Drexel

ISFL / ISFA Team Championship Records