Intercollegiate Soccer
Football Association
AbbreviationISFA
PredecessorIntercollegiate Soccer Football League
Founded1905
Dissolved1958 (1958)
Legal statusAssociation
Region served
United States and Canada
Membership
50 schools

The Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (abbrevriated ISFA) was a sports government body that ruled the practice of college soccer in the United States from 1905 to 1958.

Before the NCAA held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, national champions were selected by a committee of the ISFA based on season records and competition. In addition, the College Soccer Bowl tournament was held from 1950–1952 (following the 1949–1951 seasons) 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 (in 1950 selecting as champion a team that did not participate in the second Soccer Bowl).[1]

History

College soccer 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.[2] This grew to over 50 by 1947.

From 1905 through 1925, the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League (an Ivy League forerunner) 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.[3][4]

Member Schools

Team Joined
Haverford
Yale
Columbia
Harvard
Penn
Princeton
Penn State1926
Navy
Cornell
West Chester
Springfield1931
San Francisco
Temple
Franklin & Marshall
Swarthmore
Lehigh
Dartmouth
Brown1931
M.I.T.1931
Lafayette1928

[5]

ISFL / ISFA College Soccer National Champions

College champions were determined by various methods over the years as listed below.[1] They are all considered unofficial.

  • 1904–1925: Champion of the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League
  • 1926–1935: Determined by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association
  • 1936–1940: No selection by ISFA. Listed are outstanding teams that claim a share of the championship.
  • 1941–1945: No selection by ISFA. Intercollegiate soccer was severely curtailed by world war.
  • 1946–1958: Determined by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association
  • 1949–1951: Seasons for which Soccer Bowl was played (two of these were played early the following year)
Ed. Season Champion
1
1904–05Haverford (1)
2
1905–06Haverford (2)
3
1906–07Haverford (3)
4
1908Haverford (4)
Yale (1)
5
1909Columbia (1)
6
1910Columbia (2)
7
1911Haverford (5)
8
1912Yale (2)
9
1913Harvard (1)
10
1914Penn (1)
Harvard (2)
11
1915Haverford (6)
12
1916Penn (2)
13
1917Haverford (7)
–
1918no competition held
14
1919Penn (3)
15
1920Penn (4)
16
1921Princeton (1)
17
1922Princeton (2)
18
1923Penn (5)
19
1924Penn (6)
20
1925Princeton (3)
21
1926Penn State (1)
Princeton (4)
Harvard (3)
22
1927Princeton (5)
23
1928Yale (3)
24
1929Penn State (2)
25
1930Penn (7)
Yale (4)
Harvard (4)
26
1931Penn (8)
27
1932Penn (9)
Navy (1)
28
1933Penn State (3)
Penn (10)
29
1934Cornell (1)
30
1935Yale (5)
31
1936Penn State (4)
Princeton (6)
West Chester| (1)
Syracuse (1)
32
1937Penn State (5)
Princeton (7)
Springfield (1)
33
1938Penn State (6)
34
1939Penn State (7)
Princeton (8)
35
1940Penn State (8)
–
1941No selection
–
1942No selection
–
1943No selection
–
1944No selection
36
1945Haverford (8)
37
1946Springfield (2)
38
1947Springfield (3)
39
1948Connecticut (1)
40
1949Penn State (9)
San Francisco (1)
41
1950West Chester (2)
42
1951Temple (1)
43
1952Franklin & Marshall (1)
44
1953Temple (2)
45
1954Penn State (10)
46
1955Penn State (11)
Brockport (1)
47
1956Trinity (1)
48
1957Springfield (4)
City College of New York (1)
49
1958Drexel (1)

Soccer Bowl

Ed. Season Champion Score Runner-up
1
1950Penn State (1)
2–2
– [n 1]
San Francisco (1)
2
1951Penn State (2)
3–1
Purdue
3
1952Temple (1)
2–0
San Francisco
Notes
  1. ↑ Both teams were declared champions after a 2–2 tie with neither extra time nor penalties ran to decide a winner.

ISFL / ISFA Team Championship Records

Team Titles Winning Years
Penn State
11
1926, 1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1949, 1954, 1955
Penn
10
1914, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933
Princeton
8
1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1936, 1937, 1939
Haverford
7
1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1908, 1911, 1915, 1917
Yale
5
1908, 1912, 1928, 1930, 1935
Harvard
4
1913, 1914, 1926, 1930
Springfield
4
1937, 1946, 1947, 1957
Columbia
2
1909, 1910
Temple
2
1951, 1953
West Chester
2
1936, 1950
Navy
1
1932
Cornell
1
1934
Syracuse
1
1936
Connecticut
1
1948
San Francisco
1
1949
Franklin & Marshall
1
1952
Brockport
1
1955
Trinity
1
1956
City College of New York
1
1957
Drexel
1
1958

References

  1. 1 2 "The American Soccer History Archives: NCAA College Soccer Championships". Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  2. ↑ "The Year in American Soccer – 1947". Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Penn State Collegian". Vol. 21, no. 31. Penn State Collegian. January 19, 1926. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  4. ↑ "COLLEGES ORGANIZE A NEW SOCCER BODY; Old League Members Reunite Under Different Schedule Rules and Ask Others to Join". The New York Times. January 12, 1926. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  5. ↑ "6-Year Standings of College Soccer". December 15, 1931. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  6. ↑ "New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, May 1, 1908, Image 5". New-York tribune. May 1, 1908. p. 5. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
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