Trinity men’s soccer filed an official appeal to the NCAA Division III rules committee to shorten the length of soccer matches from 90 minutes to 89 minutes and 55 seconds. The change would retroactively award the Tigers the 2025 national championship. Kinley McPaul, head men’s soccer coach, submitted the appeal on Feb. 29, 2026. If successful, the rule change will apply to all matches from last season and all games going forward.
To many, McPaul’s appeal comes as a shock, but Trinity athletic director Kib Bong argued that this rule change is needed and has been coming for some time.
“Imagine a team that is clearly the best in the nation and dominates every game of the national tournament without allowing a single goal,” Bong said. “Say they’re up 1-0, just four seconds away from the most deserved national title ever, when the other team scores the luckiest goal in the history of soccer and then wins in overtime. It’s painful just to picture this hypothetical.”
The Tigers lost the 2025 national championship to Tufts University on Dec. 7 in circumstances nearly identical to Bong’s hypothetical, as Tufts scored the equalizer with just four seconds left on the clock and won in overtime. While the appeal has sparked controversy, the Tigers’ insistence that it retroactively change last season’s results has been at the forefront of the backlash. If implemented, McPaul’s appeal would nullify the Jumbos’ goal and make Trinity national champions.
“It’s a complete coincidence that the implementation of my appeal would result in us being named the 2025 men’s soccer national champions,” McPaul said. “In fact, the thought didn’t even cross my mind. I had completely forgotten about that game. This rule is about integrity, and to argue otherwise would be to insult my integrity.”
Beyond Bong’s hypothetical situation of heartbreak, McPaul expanded upon how the rule could benefit the sport.
“In soccer, wasting time is common, which is why, at the college level, the clock stops at the discretion of the referee,” McPaul said. “But some referees are eccentric and stop the clock excessively. It’s self-centered and makes the game about the referee, and it can actually make games last longer. That can create unfair opportunities for a team to score a late goal.”
Players from Trinity men’s soccer have come out in support of their head coach and his arguments. In particular, senior midfielder and last year’s team captain Knute Adamson, the Division III Men’s Soccer Player of the Year, came out to defend his coach’s actions.
“We accepted the result of the national title game,” Adamson said. “Were we the better team on Dec. 7? Yes. Were we the best team in the tournament and the nation? Yes. Did Tufts score a lucky goal? Yes. Did the referee stop the clock excessively? Yes. None of this means that Coach McPaul is being anything but honest. He just wants to protect the integrity of the game.”
The NCAA rules committee will announce the results of the appeal on April 1. While many think a rule change is out of the question, Kib Bong says he is confident the NCAA will do the “right thing.” In completely unrelated news, Trinity men’s soccer has scheduled a parade for April 2 at 2 p.m, starting on Stadium Drive.
