The 2023 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Southern Conference held from November 3 through November 12, 2023. The tournament was held at campus sites, with the higher seed hosting. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The UNC Greensboro Spartans were the defending champions.[1] UNC Greensboro was unable to defend its title, falling in the Quarterfinals to Mercer. Mercer would go on to win the tournament as the fifth seed, defeating Furman 2–0 in the Final.[2] [3] This was the fifth Southern Conference tournament title for the Mercer men's soccer program, all of which have come under head coach Brad Ruzzo. Mercer has also won the tournament three of the last five years.[4] As tournament champions, Mercer earned the Southern Conference's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.
| 2023 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Division I | ||||
| Teams | 6 | ||||
| Matches | 5 | ||||
| Attendance | 3,841 | ||||
| Site | Campus Sites (1st & 2nd seed) | ||||
| Champions | Mercer (5th title) | ||||
| Winning coach | Brad Ruzzo (5th title) | ||||
| MVP | Sekou Agard (Mercer) | ||||
| Broadcast | ESPN+ | ||||
| |||||
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ETSU | 4 | – | 0 | – | 1 | 9 | – | 5 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wofford | 3 | – | 0 | – | 2 | 7 | – | 4 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Furman | 2 | – | 2 | – | 1 | 10 | – | 6 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mercer ‡ | 1 | – | 2 | – | 2 | 7 | – | 6 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNC Greensboro | 1 | – | 2 | – | 2 | 2 | – | 10 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VMI | 0 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 14 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: SoCon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeding edit
All six Southern Conference men's soccer programs qualified for the 2023 Tournament. Teams were seeded based on their regular season records. Tiebreakers were used to determine the seedings of teams who finished with identical conference records. A tiebreaker was required to determine the fourth and fifth seeds as Mercer and defending champions UNC Greensboro both finished the regular season with 1–2–2 records. The two teams tied their October 21 match 1–1. UNC Greensboro was the fourth seed and Mercer was the fifth seed.[5]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ETSU | 4–0–1 | 13 |
| 2 | Wofford | 3–0–2 | 11 |
| 3 | Furman | 2–2–1 | 7 |
| 4 | UNC Greensboro | 1–2–2 | 5 |
| 5 | Mercer | 1–2–2 | 5 |
| 6 | VMI | 0–5–0 | 0 |
Bracket edit
Source:[6]
| Quarterfinals Friday, Nov. 3 | Semifinals Sunday, Nov. 5 | Final Sunday, Nov. 12 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | ETSU | 1 (3) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | UNC Greensboro | 1 | 5 | Mercer (pen.) | 1 (4) | |||||||||
| 5 | Mercer | 3 | 5 | Mercer | 2 | |||||||||
| 3 | Furman | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Wofford | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Furman | 4 | 3 | Furman | 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | VMI | 1 | ||||||||||||
Schedule edit
Quarterfinals edit
| November 3 | #4 UNC Greensboro | 1–3 | #5 Mercer | Johnson City, TN |
| 3:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Summers-Taylor Stadium Attendance: 506 Referee: Richard Crowgey Assistant referees: Zachary McWhorter Gunwan Park Fourth official: Kevin Uitto |
| November 3 | #3 Furman | 4–1 | #6 VMI | Spartanburg, SC |
| 4:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Snyder Field Attendance: 70 Referee: Brandon Marion Assistant referees: Kevin Maurer Thomas Rutherford Fourth official: Khadime Sabara |
Semifinals edit
| November 5 | #2 Wofford | 0–1 | #3 Furman | Spartanburg, SC |
| 2:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Snyder Field Attendance: 347 Referee: Matthew Thompson Assistant referees: Joshua Lampkins John Rush Fourth official: Derek Ambrozaitis |
| November 5 | #1 ETSU | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–4 p) | #5 Mercer | Johnson City, TN |
| 3:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Summers-Taylor Stadium Attendance: 1,092 Referee: Brandon Marion Assistant referees: Ryan Starr Raymond Thomas Fourth official: Zachary McWhorter |
| Penalties | ||||
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Final edit
| November 12 | #3 Furman | 0–2 | #5 Mercer | Greenville, SC |
| 2:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Stone Stadium Attendance: 1,826 Referee: William Steffen Assistant referees: Rick Rogers Thomas Brigman Fourth official: Khadime Sabara |
Statistics edit
Goalscorers edit
There were 14 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 2.8 goals per match (as of November 12, 2023).
3 goals
- Christian Kraus – Furman
2 goals
- Nick Wanzer – Mercer
1 goal
- Lucas Lightner – East Tennessee State
- Alfredo Diaz-Santillan – Furman
- Slade Starnes – Furman
- Sekou Agard – Mercer
- Ehi Aimiuwu – Mercer
- Barzee Blama – Mercer
- Carlos Santamaria – Mercer
- Malcolm McIntosh – VMI
- Arnaud Tattevin – UNC Greensboro
All-Tournament team edit
Source:[7]
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Cole Hunter | ETSU |
| Lucas Lightner | |
| Josh Hosie | Furman |
| Christian Kraus | |
| Slade Starnes | |
| Sekou Agard | Mercer |
| Barzee Blama | |
| Trevor McMullen | |
| Nick Wanzer | |
| Hugo Moldin | Wofford |
| Nic Parker |
MVP in bold
References edit
- ^ "2022 Men's Soccer Championship". soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Championship". soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ Cox, Jeff (November 13, 2023). "Mercer Men's Soccer clinches Southern Conference title, securing automatic NCAA Tournament bid". WGXA. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "Southern Conference Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "ETSU Clinches The Southern Conference Regular Season Title". soconsports.com. Southern Conference. October 28, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Championship" (PDF). soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "Mercer claims SoCon Men's Soccer Championship". Southern Conference. November 12, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2024.