College

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The GIST: Soccer’s not just the world’s most watched sport — it’s one of the NCAA’s most popular. There are 1039 women’s and 830 men’s teams across its three divisions, far outnumbering the NCAA’s 667 football programs. Who are the boys (and girls) of fall now, huh?

How it works: The NCAA largely follows the same rules as pro and international soccer (here’s an explainer for true footy first-timers). Each team plays two 45-minute regulation halves with 11 players, including the goalie. And contrary to popular belief, both men and women use a standard size 5 ball.

The collegiate differences: As of last season, college soccer only allows overtimes (OTs) and, if needed, penalty shootouts in the postseason. And while the pros’ OTs are two 15-minute periods, the NCAA uses a pair of 10-minute sessions.

• Another difference from pro leagues? Player substitution regulations — the pros have limited subs allowed, and subbed-out athletes cannot reenter, but NCAA coaches are free to swap players in and out as they like.

• Lastly, there’s no stoppage time in college ball because, unlike the pros, the clock counts down from 45 minutes each half, and the ref can stop time for delays like injuries or while teams reset after goals. Soccer mom Glennon Doyle approves.

The GIST: Unlike some other college sports, many schools have won national soccer titles, aka College Cups, since the first men’s championship in 1959 and the first women’s in 1982. But that’s not to say there aren’t perennial powerhouses on the pitch.

The women: The unquestioned behemoth of the women’s game? The North Carolina Tar Heels, who own the most Division I (DI) ’ships by a mile at 21 — Florida State, Stanford, and Notre Dame are tied in second with a mere three each. And UNC boasts a slew of superstar alumni, like the game’s GOAT, Mia Hamm, and current USWNT left-back Crystal Dunn.

• The Heels were dominant as ever last season, but they’re not the reigning champs. The late-game heroics of UCLA’s Ally Lemos and Maricarmen Reyes pushed their squad past UNC in last year’s instant-classic double-overtime College Cup final.

The men: Historically, St. Louis is the NCAA’s top DI team, with a record 10 titles to their name. But they haven’t won it all since 1973, and current juggernauts Indiana and Virginia are hot on their tail with eight and seven nattys, respectively.

• The current kings? Clemson and Washington topped the 2022 polls nearly the whole season, but Syracuse surged to their first ’ship in December’s dramatic double-overtime-plus-penalties final. Wild.

The GIST: Excited for the FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC)? Want some extra cash in your pocket? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you have to enter our WWC bracket challenge.

The prizes: Along with bragging rights, the top-three winners will be taking home cold, hard cash. The GIST is awarding a grand prize of $1,000 (!!!) to the best bracket, while the second- and third-best snag $500 and $250, respectively. The winner will also be featured across The GIST’s newsletters and socials.

How to play: First, submit your picks for the group stage by guessing where each country will finish in their respective group. Then, when the group stage is over, we’ll send you an email to submit your picks for the knockout stage, where you’ll pick a winner for each game. May the odds be ever in your favor.

The GIST: When it comes to leveling the collegiate playing field pitch, few have done more than Julianne Sitch, who became the first woman to lead a men’s team to an NCAA championship when her University of Chicago (UChicago) Maroons took the DIII title last December. HYFR.

• Sitch’s career is a masterclass in perseverance and the importance of team culture — read on for our exclusive interview with the glass ceiling–smasher.

As a player, Sitch was on the front lines of the 2000s’ women’s pro soccer chaos. While kicking it at DePaul, she saw the WUSA fold in 2003. She played pro internationally before joining the WPS’s 2009 inaugural season, competing there until it also went under in 2013. Finally, Sitch became one of the OG NWSL players from the league’s rookie 2013 season until her 2015 retirement.

• With “all of those leagues and the changes and the hurdles and obstacles that my generation of players had to go through to play professionally,” she says, “it’s great to now know that the NWSL…has been stable, it’s growing…. It’s so incredible to see.”

• After hanging up her boots, Sitch served as an assistant women’s coach at UChicago, the University of Illinois-Chicago, in the NWSL, and with U.S. national youth teams. All prepped her for her 2022 history-making move.

Sitch was asked to consider the HC gig for UChicago’s men’s squad, to which she thought, “I don’t know, I’ve never coached men before…but it’d be so cool.” So she consulted NYU men’s soccer HC Kim Wyant, with whom she would later make history. After talking to Wyant, Sitch “had the mindset of, why not?”

• Less than eight months later, she led UChicago to a record-breaking season and the program’s first NCAA ’ship, inking an instant success story that she attributes to their meticulously crafted team culture.

• “I think the teams need to have ownership in [building a culture],” Sitch says. “You bring everyone in, and everyone has a part and feels a part of something. And that’s when you feel valued…you’re willing to go a little bit extra.” Now that’s leadership.

Today, Sitch is back on the culture-building grind — this time, as a DI HC leading Denver’s women. Her current goals (other than mastering Mountain Time)? “Seeing [what] can add value to the program. I think the team right now is in a really good place culture-wise…. I’m really excited [to work] within the culture that’s already here and continue to build on that.”

• “[We’re] finding an identity….I want to make sure that we have that environment where people feel they can be themselves and…continue to grow.” Ultimately, she says, it’s about fostering “a love for the game and having fun playing.”

• Her advice for other women who dream of breaking coaching’s unspoken gender barrier? “Go for it…just believe in going after your dreams and, if there’s something that you really want to do, go for it…[don’t let] anyone tell you [that] you can’t do something.” Amen.