2013 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 2013 NIRSA national soccer championship was the 20th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It took place at Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix, Arizona from Thursday, November 21 to Saturday, November 23, 2013.

After the first day of games, persistent rain over Thursday night resulted in the closure of all Reach 11's fields for all of Friday. The rain continued through to Saturday which inevitably resulted in the cancellation of the remainder of the tournament. The weekend saw Phoenix receive over 2.5 inches of rain in a 30-hour period, more than four times the 0.65 inches it typically receives in the entire of month of November. Attempts at a continuation, like the one that happened when rain cancelled the 2004 tournament, were ultimately unsuccessful meaning the championship would see, for the first time in its 20-year history, not a single division able to name a champion.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

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.^[6][7]

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.^[8]

The 48 remaining teams participated in the open division. Participants were chosen on a first-come first-serve basis through IMLeagues. Registration began September 24 at 8:00am PDT. The first four teams per region that register guaranteed a spot with each remaining team in the region being placed on the waitlist. If a region didn't fill up by 5:00pm PDT on September 24, waitlist teams would begin to fill those spots.^[9]

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No knockout games were able to be played due to the rain. Due to all championship group stage games finishing prior to the rain, the theoretical knockout matchups were set.