Soccer at the Top Colleges
Soccer is one of the most popular NCAA sports played by both men and women’s teams at the highly selective colleges. Overall, 53 of the 61 highly selective colleges have men’s soccer teams and 58 of the 61 highly selective colleges have women’s soccer teams with a total of 3,214 soccer players across both genders.
Of the 53 colleges with men’s soccer teams, 26 of them belong in Division 1 with 712 players and 27 of them belong in Division 3 with 862 players, totaling 1,574 players together in the 2021/2022 season.
Of the 58 colleges with women’s soccer teams, 29 of them belong in Division 1 with 794 players and 29 of them belong in Division 3 with 846 players, totaling 1,640 players together in the 2021/2022 season.
Men’s Soccer NCAA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment
Women’s Soccer NCAA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment
How do top colleges in Division 1 select their athlete recruits?
Athlete Recruitment to a Top NCAA Division 3 College
List of Highly Selective Colleges with Soccer Teams
Below is a list of the top colleges that play soccer and the NCAA Division they belong in.
All data is compiled directly from the colleges’ athletic websites
| Soccer at Highly Selective Colleges | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's | Women's | ||
| Division | Soccer | Soccer | |
| Amherst College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Babson College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Barnard College (comb w/ Columbia University) | I | No | Yes |
| Bates College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Boston College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Boston University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Bowdoin College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Brown University | I | Yes | Yes |
| California Institute of Technology | III | Yes | Yes |
| Carleton College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Carnegie Mellon University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Claremont McKenna College (incl Harvey Mudd) | III | Yes | Yes |
| Colby College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Colgate University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Colorado College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Columbia University (incl Barnard College) | I | Yes | Yes |
| Cornell University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Dartmouth College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Davidson College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Duke University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Emory University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Georgetown University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Grinnell College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Hamilton College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Harvard University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Harvey Mudd College (comb w/Claremont McKenna) | III | Yes | Yes |
| Haverford College | III | Yes | Yes |
| John Hopkins University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | III | Yes | Yes |
| Middleburry College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Northeastern University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Northwestern University | III | Yes | Yes |
| New York University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Pitzer College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Pomona College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Princeton University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Rice University | I | No | Yes |
| Stanford University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Swarthmore College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Tufts University | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of California Berkeley | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of California Los Angeles | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Michigan | III | Yes | Yes |
| University of Chicago | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Notre Dame | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Pennsylvania | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Southern California | I | No | Yes |
| University of Virginia | I | Yes | Yes |
| Vanderbilt University | III | No | Yes |
| Vassar College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Villanova University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Wake Forest University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Washington and Lee University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Washington University in St. Louis | III | Yes | Yes |
| Wellesley College | III | No | Yes |
| Wesleyan University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Williams College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Yale University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Total | 1,574 | 1,640 |
Watch out for the latest on
How to get recruited to the soccer team at a top college?
Soccer team profiles at the top colleges