High School Soccer Overtime Rules: How Ties Are Broken in the Regular Season and Playoffs

High school soccer overtime depends almost entirely on your state association, not on a national rule. In the regular season, plenty of states play no overtime at all and let a tie stand. In the state playoffs, nearly every state must produce a winner, so a tied game goes to overtime periods and then, if it is still level, to kicks from the penalty mark.

That is why two families watching the same scoreline get different answers: the NFHS rulebook sets a ceiling and hands the decision to each state. Here is what the national rule says, how seven states have chosen differently, and exactly how a high school shootout runs.

Does high school soccer have overtime?

Sometimes. Regulation is two 40-minute halves — 80 minutes — and what happens after that depends on the season and the state.

The governing rule is NFHS Rule 7-3. Its first article is short and leaves the decision open: "Regular season games which are tied at the end of 80 minutes of play may be resolved by procedures adopted by state high school associations," with a note that "no overtime procedure shall exceed 20 minutes of play during the regular season." The NFHS's own comparative study of rules and laws puts it the same way in its duration table: overtime is "allowed by state association, up to 20 mins. maximum," sudden victory "may be permitted by state during regular season," and "post-season tie breaking procedures are left to state associations."

So the national rule caps regular-season overtime at 20 minutes and sets the clock around it — five minutes between the end of regulation and the first overtime period, two minutes between overtime periods — then stops. Everything else is a state decision.

How do high school soccer overtime rules differ by state?

Seven associations, seven different answers. Every row comes from that association's own published soccer manual or tie-breaking procedure.

Three things in that table are worth sitting with.

First, "overtime" and "sudden victory" are not the same thing. Ohio, Kansas and Utah play sudden victory: the first goal ends the game. Oregon and Florida play the full period out, so a goal in the first minute does not finish it. If you have only ever watched the pro game, where extra time is always played to completion, the sudden-victory version will catch you off guard.

Second, Wisconsin plays no varsity overtime in the regular season at all — and none at JV or freshman level either. A tie is simply a tie.

Third, Texas delegates the decision one level further down, to the district executive committee, so two districts in the same state can run different formats in the same week. Look up your own association's soccer page before the playoffs start; "high school rules" is not one answer.

What is a sudden-victory overtime period?

Sudden victory is the NFHS term for what the rest of the world calls a golden goal: the first team to score wins immediately and the period ends. The vocabulary differs across all three codes — the NFHS and NCAA say "overtime," IFAB and FIFA say "extra time" — which is part of why this gets muddled.

The mechanics are the same either way. A coin toss is held before the first overtime period, teams change ends between the two periods, and the two-minute interval applies in between.

How does a high school soccer penalty shootout work?

When the overtime periods end level in a playoff game, coaches, officials and captains meet at the halfway line and the referee runs the procedure. The steps are consistent across the state documents:

1. The referee picks the goal. All kicks are taken at one end, chosen by the head referee based on field and weather conditions.
2. Each coach names five kickers. Any five players, including the goalkeeper, on or off the field — except anyone who has been disqualified.
3. A coin toss decides the order. The winner chooses to kick first or second.
4. Teams alternate kickers, one touch only. There is no follow-up on a rebound: once the ball's momentum is spent, goes out of bounds, or is touched again by the kicker, the kick is over.
5. The defending team may change goalkeepers before each kick.
6. After five kicks each, the team with more goals wins — and the round ends early if one team can no longer be caught.
7. If it is still level, a second set of five goes to sudden victory. Those five must be different players from the first five. If one team scores and the other misses in the same pair, the game is over.
8. If still tied, it keeps going in sets of five, cycling back through eligible players until someone wins.

Note that this is not the same thing as a penalty kick awarded during play. Those follow Rule 14 and have their own encroachment and goalkeeper requirements, which we break down in penalty kick rules in soccer.

Cautions during a shootout carry a kicking restriction whose length differs between state documents — Oregon sits a cautioned kicker out for one further set of five, Ohio for two. A disqualified player takes no further part at all.

Who is allowed to take a kick in the shootout?

This is the detail that surprises people who follow the professional game — worth knowing before you watch a substitute who never got on the field walk up to the spot.

In high school soccer, any eligible player on the roster can take a shootout kick. Oregon's procedure spells it out: "Any player on the roster is eligible. Players do not have to have been on the field of play at the end of overtime, nor are they required to even have played at all during the game."

Under the FIFA Laws, the opposite is true: only players on the field at the end of the match may take part, and if one team has had a player sent off, the other must reduce its number of kickers to match. The NFHS procedure rejects that second part outright — Oregon's document states that "the IFAB 'reduce to equate' principle does not apply in NFHS tie-breaking procedures."

If a team has fewer than ten available players, its available players simply take kicks as needed, repeating in any order, rather than the opposition trimming down to match.

How does a shootout win show up in the score and the standings?

Not as a tie. Kansas, Oregon and Florida use the same accounting: add one goal to the winning team's score and credit the team with a victory, with an asterisk permitted beside the advancing team to show the result came from a tie-breaker. A 1–1 game decided 4–3 on kicks goes into the book as 2–1.

A tie that is allowed to stand is handled differently again. Texas records it as half a win and half a loss for each team, which is how a district table stays balanced without a winner. If you are tracking a seeding race through the final week, that distinction matters — as does the goal-differential rule that can end a lopsided game early, covered in the mercy rule in soccer.

What should parents actually expect on a playoff night?

Three practical things.

Block out more of the evening than the schedule says. A playoff game that goes the distance adds five minutes of interval, two overtime periods, another interval, a meeting at the halfway line and then at least ten kicks. Twenty minutes of overtime is rarely twenty minutes of your evening.

Do not assume the regular-season format carries over. Ohio's tournament instructions note that schools have not used overtime procedures at any point in the regular season — so the first overtime many Ohio players ever experience is a playoff one, which is why the association tells sites to review the procedure with officials before kickoff.

Check the level. Sub-varsity rules are often different again: Wisconsin plays no overtime at JV or freshman level, and Florida lets sub-varsity teams agree to 30-minute halves. The playoff window itself is short — our guide to how long the high school soccer season is lays out where the state series falls.

One more thing worth saying out loud: a shootout is not a measure of a player. It is a tie-breaking device the rulebook reaches for when the clock runs out of answers. What shows up on a penalty spot in November is the work a player put in between August and then. FlickTec's daily guided sessions are built for exactly that, in a backyard, with one ball.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there overtime in high school soccer?

It depends on your state association. NFHS Rule 7-3 allows regular-season overtime but leaves the decision to each state and caps it at 20 minutes of play. Wisconsin and Florida play none in the regular season and let a tie stand. In the state playoffs, nearly every state uses overtime followed by kicks from the penalty mark, because a winner has to advance.

How long is overtime in high school soccer?

Usually two 10-minute periods, which is also the 20-minute maximum NFHS sets for the regular season. Ohio is a notable exception and uses two 15-minute periods in its tournament. There is a five-minute interval between the end of regulation and the first overtime period, and two minutes between the overtime periods.

Does high school soccer go to a shootout?

In the postseason, yes, in nearly every state — once the overtime periods end level, the game is decided by kicks from the penalty mark. In the regular season it is far rarer: Kansas, for instance, plays two sudden-victory periods and then lets the game end in a draw.

Can any player take a penalty kick in a high school shootout?

Yes. Each coach selects any five eligible players from the roster, including the goalkeeper, on or off the field — excluding anyone disqualified. Unlike the FIFA Laws, high school players need not have been on the field at the end of overtime, or have played at all. The second set of five must be different players from the first five.

Can a high school soccer game end in a tie?

Yes, in the regular season in many states. Florida and Wisconsin let regulation ties stand, Kansas allows a draw after two sudden-victory periods, and Texas lets each district choose, recording a tie as half a win and half a loss for both teams. Playoff games do not end in ties, because one team has to advance.

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The answer to "what happens if it's tied?" lives on your state association's soccer page, not in a national rulebook. Look it up once, before the playoffs, and you will never have to guess on the touchline again.