The Division I Men’s Soccer Committee addressed sportsmanship issues during recent meeting in Savannah, Georgia, including efforts to mitigate the negative behavior directed at opposing players by fans at preliminary-round games in the championship.

The committee will stress that institutions selected to host preliminary-round contests in 2008 should monitor fan behavior during games to ensure a positive experience for both participating institutions.

Additionally, the committee agreed that the all-tournament team will be announced after the presentation of the team trophy to the national champions. The committee confirmed that its commitment to sportsmanship requires the second-place team to remain on the field during the awards presentation – the runner-up will be permitted to return to the locker room while the all-tournament team is being announced.

The committee reviewed several potential models that would amend the Rating Percentage Index currently used for tournament selections. Most notably, the committee discussed whether the value of ties should be changed and how it could reward teams for playing nonconference road contests. The committee will continue to review RPI models and will make a recommendation to the Championships/Competition Cabinet in June for implementation before the 2008 season.

In other actions, changes will be made regarding practices on the game field at championship sites for all rounds of the tournament. On the day before a preliminary-round game, visiting teams will be permitted to practice on the game field for 60 minutes the day before the game. The practice will be restricted from penalty box to penalty box. Portable goals shall be available for the practice.  

On game day, the pregame warm-up will be limited to 60 minutes on the game field. Teams will have full access to the field and initial goalkeeping warm-up will be encouraged outside of the goal box. For artificial-surface fields, teams will be allowed full access to the field during both the 60-minute practice the day before the game and during the warm-up on game day.

Second-round games will be played on Tuesday in 2008 to allow teams competing in either first, second or third-round competition more time to coordinate travel plans due to the short turnaround time and the Thanksgiving holiday.

The committee will bid farewell to chair Ken Kavanagh (Bradley) and has recommended Charlie Elwood (Fordham) to become the new chair.