2025 ECAC Tournament

[Ejay]

Announcement - https://ecacsports.com/news/2025/11/10/ecac-announces-2025-diii-mens-soccer-championship-field.aspx
Bracket - https://ecacsports.com/documents/2025/11/10//DIII_Men_s_Soccer_Bracket.pdf

POD 1
#1 Virginia Wesleyan
#2 Franciscan

POD 4
#1 Rutgers Newark
#2 Goucher
#3 Brooklyn College

POD 3
#1 McDaniel
#2 Juniata

POD 2
#1 FDU Florham
#2 William Paterson
#3 SUNY Maritime


DANBURY, Conn. - The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) has announced Virginia Wesleyan University will be the overall top-seed of the 2025 ECAC Division III Men's Soccer Championship. VWU, Rutgers Newark, McDaniel College, and FDU Florham will be the sites of the first two rounds. First round play of the tournament will begin on Saturday, November 15.

In pod 1 hosted by VWU, the top overall seed Marlins will battle against Franciscan University.

In pod 4 hosted by Rutgers Newark, No. 2 Goucher College will play No. 3 Brooklyn College. The winner will advance to play Rutgers Newark.

In pod 3 hosted by McDaniel College, McDaniel will host Juniata College.

In pod 2 hosted by FDU Florham, #2 William Paterson University matches against #3 SUNY Maritime. The winner will advance to play FDU Florham.

The winners of each pod will go on to compete in the championship weekend on Saturday, November 22 and 23. The host of the championship weekend will be determined after play on Sunday, November 16 is concluded.

All times are TBD. Hosting schools will coordinate with their traveling institutions to determine game times.

Pod 1: Quarterfinals - Sunday, Nov. 16 at Virginia Wesleyan
Game 1: (Sun.): No. 1 Virginia Wesleyan vs. No. 2 Franciscan at TBD

Pod 4: First Round and Quarterfinals - Saturday, Nov. 15 & Sunday, Nov. 16 at Rutgers Newark
Game 1: (Sat.): No. 2 Goucher College vs. No. 3 Brooklyn College at TBD
Game 2: (Sun.): No. 1 Rutgers Newark vs. Winner Game 1 at TBD

Pod 3: Quarterfinals - Sunday, Nov. 16 at McDaniel College
Game 1: (Sun.): No. 1 McDaniel College vs. No. 2 Juniata College at TBD

Pod 4: First Round and Quarterfinals - Saturday, Nov. 15 & Sunday, Nov. 16 at FDU Florham
Game 1: (Sat.): No. 2 William Paterson vs. No. 3 SUNY Maritime at TBD
Game 2: (Sun.): No. 1 FDU Florham vs. Winner Game 1 at TBD

Semifinals and Final - Saturday, Nov. 22 & Sunday, Nov. 23
Game 3: (Sat.): Winner Pod 1 vs. Winner Pod 4 at TBD
Game 4 (Sat.): Winner Pod 3 vs. Winner Pod 2 at TBD
Game 5 (Sun.): Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 at TBD

[Hopkins92]

I'm really curious how this invites are handled? I'm also really curious how the teams accepting approach it.

I know personally, if you told me I got to play some more games, especially as a senior, I'd have been all over it.

[VASoccerDad]

Is this like the NIT of D3 soccer?

[Kuiper]

Is this like the NIT of D3 soccer?

Yes and no.  Yes, in the sense that no one goes that gets an NCAA bid, so it is a de facto second-level tournament.  But no because you have to be a paid member of the ECAC to do it and they basically just seed the schools that want to do it.  So, it's not the best of the teams that didn't make the NCAA tournament.

[kansas hokie]

I believe schools have to pay for their athletic programs to be part of ECAC and thus "qualify" for the post-season tournaments that ECAC coordinates. Selections come across various sports (football and basketball for sure) and yes, they are made up of teams that did not make the NCAA tournament in a very-NIT familiar way.  More opportunities for the athletes to play and win a title, if schools find enough value in it to pay for participation and an organization can run it and provide a quality experience, I'm all for it.

[Ejay]

You also have to apply. Some teams are simply done at the end of the season and don't want to play any more games. Presumably Vassar falls into that category...

https://ecacsports.com/sports/2016/5/5/D3_Members.aspx?path=gen

[SimpleCoach]

Is this like the NIT of D3 soccer?

Yes and no.  Yes, in the sense that no one goes that gets an NCAA bid, so it is a de facto second-level tournament.  But no because you have to be a paid member of the ECAC to do it and they basically just seed the schools that want to do it.  So, it's not the best of the teams that didn't make the NCAA tournament.

In spite of the details.... yes it is the NIT of D3 Soccer.... kind of, sort of.  Its actually something I wish we could get more teams to participate in.

SC.

[Convict charlie]

I'm really curious how this invites are handled? I'm also really curious how the teams accepting approach it.

I know personally, if you told me I got to play some more games, especially as a senior, I'd have been all over it.

We used to have to apply before the ncaa tournament. Taking it as a secondary approach in case you didn't make ncaa. Our college only would fund it if we made conference finals. You have to pay out of pocket unlike ncaa where the college is reimbursed for everything in manual.

[VASoccerDad]

Thanks everyone for answering regarding my ECAC/NIT question. I only knew of the ECAC as a hockey conference back when I worked at a small college in Massachusetts. I didn't know they also held invite tournaments in a variety of sports.

Kind of a strange set-up honestly...an actual conference that holds conference tournaments just like the NESCAC and others, but also an organization similar to the NCAA or NIT that hosts tournaments for any school that wants to pay to play.

Nice that teams not selected to the NCAA tournament have a chance to continue playing, but too bad it's not necessarily the "best of the rest", it's really just the ones that want to pay to play that get to participate.

[Kuiper]

Results from the first round:

Franciscan 4 - Virginia Wesleyan 1

I won't read too much into a team not performing in a consolation tournament after missing out on the NCAA tournament by a very slim NPI margin, but Virginia Wesleyan certainly missed an opportunity to claim it should have been in the Big Dance, especially playing at home.  Franciscan was 11-9-2 this season, although it only narrowly lost in the PAC championship game to Grove City 1-0.  Against Va. Wesleyan, Franciscan was up 3-0 before Va. Wesleyan finally go on the board in the 59th minute.

Rutgers-Newark 2 - Goucher 0

Rutgers, playing at home, scored early (2nd minute) and late (82nd minute) and thoroughly dominated in-between, out-shooting Goucher 22-3 (13-2 in shots on goal).  Credit to Goucher's keeper for making 11 saves.  Goucher earned the right to play in this game Brooklyn forfeited.

William Paterson 4 - SUNY Maritime 1

Much like Franciscan, William Paterson was up 3-0 before Maritime got on the board in the 80th minute in what was effectively a play-in game.

Today's matches:

Juniata @ McDaniel at 1 pm EST

William Paterson @ FDU Florham at 1 pm EST

[Kuiper]

Quarterfinal results from Sunday

Juniata (NPI #172) 2 - McDaniel (NPI #125) 1

Despite the difference in NPI rankings, the two teams had similar records.  Juniata was 8-5-7, which included a tie of Scranton, and McDaniel was 9-6-4, which included a tie of Dickinson.  Both teams played Swarthmore and tied them.  It kind of supports my view that the there are ranges or tiers in the NPI rankings and it might be that the teams in the 100s are basically all one tier and are capable of beating any other team in that tier on a given day.  This day, however, was Juniata's, which went up early, scoring in the 18th minute in a half where they outshot McDaniel 9-1.  McDaniel picked things up in the second half, out-shooting Juniata 13-4, but Juniata added an insurance goal in the 73rd, which came in handy when McDaniel finally found the back of the net in the 87th.

William Paterson (NPI #150) 3 - FDU-Florham (NPI #114) 2 (2OT)

FDU Florham was up 2-0 at half thanks to a brace scored by Genti Dauti less than 2 minutes apart in the 36th and 38th minutes.  William Paterson's Matty Escobar, however, countered with a brace of his own in the second half in the 54th and 67th minutes to tie the game.  In double OT, with a little over two minutes left on the clock, David Zaumer hit a free kick that clanged off the cross bar and Zaumer, no doubt hearing the voices of all his coaches past in his head, followed his shot and one-timed the rebound in the net to carry his team to the semifinals.  This might have been considered an upset given both the NPI rankings and the fact that the ECAC seeded FDU-Florham #1 in the tournament, but if anything William Paterson appeared to be the team on the front foot, out-shooting FDU-FLorham 28-13.


Remaining schedule

Semifinals, Saturday, 11/22 at Rutgers-Newark

Franciscan @ Rutgers-Newark at 11 AM

Juniata v. William Paterson at 2 PM

Finals, Sunday, 11/23 at Rutgers-Newark at 12 PM