Proof that wikipedia is not the best research tool http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/slideshows/9-of-the-best-colleges-for-soccer-fans/1
So they took the top 9 D1 programs in the country, took out Akron, Wake Forest (two teams I'd rather watch than several others on the list) and UCSB and replaced them with Stanford, Seattle and Messiah. Cool.
Hmmmm [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml8fRjDn5eM"]YouTube- UCSB SOCCER WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP '06...GOAL POST LOSES[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GwKKYjTgAs"]YouTube- UCSB Gauchos Soccer fans rushing the field vs Washington[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBYi4CJvvuE"]YouTube- UCSB - Cal Poly men's soccer STREAKERS[/ame]
Love how they either put Notre Dame in Ohio or the Columbus Crew in South Bend. You might also see some pretty footy in LA or Palo Alto, but if your looking for a few folks to watch the game with you, the Pac 10 isn't the place for soccer crowds.
Wow, that is shocking. Top attendance in College Soccer for how long now? One of the most intimidating atmosphere's in the country for College Soccer. Not much research done there. Really just stuck to places with MLS teams nearby and colleges with sucessful Men's and Women's teams...but those two things don't make them best colleges for soccer fans by a long shot. Also, I don't think any of those colleges are in this video...and this video proves where soccer fans are (Seattle did have a good group and weren't in this video but instead on ESPN, but still. Davis and SB are in there ) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- The World's Reaction to Landon Donovan's Game Winning Goal[/ame]
UCLA? Reallly? I have one kid who is a Bruin alum (went for academics) but I am a CP Mustang fan (and Big West in general). I attended the CP/UCLA NCAA tourney game 2 years ago and the Bruin home crowd was incredibly sparse and fairly non-spirited IMO. The CP crowd was extremely large for an away game and very boisterous. Total attendance for this playoff game was only 772. CP and UCSB both get lots more attendance than that for their regular home games.
Seattle University?!? If anything, the University of Washington should be on the list, as both men and women get pretty good crowds by Pac-10 standards. I wouldn't have put UW on the list, but I would have picked them way before Seattle U. Also, I didn't realize that the Columbus Crew played home games 15 minutes from Notre Dame. lol As has been mentioned repeatedly above, UC Santa Barbara is a no-brainer to be included on this list.
Not having UCSB is a joke. That's their only athletics program that people care about... a lot of those other schools have big time football or even basketball programs. Soccer (and Volleyball and even water polo to an extent) is the big sporting gig in Santa Barbara.
An interesting question to debate. Of course, it depends on the criteria used. I would put Wake Forest on the list, simply because they play attractive soccer and have a good fan base. I would also put UCSB on the list for their rabid fans and successful team. The Wake Forest vs. UCSB game 2 seasons ago at UCSB was a classic!
While this is an amazing video, all it proves is that someone had a video camera going as those people celebrated the goal... there were many other people in many other college towns that had the same reaction, but were more busy enjoying the experience than video-taping it and throwing it on YouTube
ONE must have Creighton on this last -nicest stadium in the country and top fan base. New attacking style for the fall.
http://collegesoccernews.com/index_files/Page13540.htm Bit dated - article on college soccer attendance. Less than 10 schools averaged more than 2,000 fans/game in 2006.
They picked the two best women's programs (UNC and Notre Dame), a top Division III school (Messiah), the two most successful men's program of the last 30 years (Indiana and Virgina) and then four schools where there are MLS programs in the same city and made sure they hit the various parts of the country (west, northwest, midwest, east coast) There was no research done other than to do exactly what I mentioned. No one looked up attendence, etc. It isn't colleges with the best soccer fans, it is best colleges for soccer fans. Winning women or winning men and the MLS stuff (LA, San Jose, DC United, Seattle) weighs pretty heavily in their minds. Probably took all of 15 minutes to put the list together. Wouldn't debate too much about this.
That's much too old. Here's a better reference: http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/m_soccer_RB/2010/attend.pdf Shows the following for 2009 men's average home attendance: 1. UCSB 2. Connecticut 3. Maryland 4. Creighton 5. New Mexico 6. Cal Poly 7. Akron 8. Virginia 9. Wake Forest 10. Clemson 11. UNC 17. Notre Dame 24. UCLA
The problem is, if you are a soccer fan going to college, wouldn't you want your college to not only be sucessful at soccer but also have a good facility to watch it in and have a fanbase to join up with? You pretty much stated what I knew they did, but like you said, it took them 15 min with no real research. Heck, you could use UCSB instead of UCLA and still say the Galaxy is a 1.5 hour drive away. For soccer fans wanting to see an MLS game, that would not be a big deal. Plus they could have looked at colleges that hosted MLS teams, national teams, etc. Conclusion: this list is wrong, but oh well.
So that YouTube video of all the reactions to Landon Donovan's goals showed that people weren't into the moment? Go somewhere else to grind that colossal axe. I've been to a lot of colleges and UCSB's is by far the craziest atmosphere. I'm biased though, so I won't say it's the best. But to say it isn't in the top 10? Lunacy.
I was in a classroom watching it on a projector, alone, no video recording me, I had the same reaction as everyone in these videos
What is Boston College like? They've produced some good players over the years, but obviously that doesn't mean they are popular attendance wise.