The 2021 Horizon League men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Horizon League. It was held from November 7 through November 13, 2021. The quarterfinals of the tournament were held at campus sites, while semifinals and final took place at Oakland Soccer Field in Rochester, Michigan. The six team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Milwaukee Panthers were the defending champions.[1] They were unable to defend their crown, falling to Cleveland State in the Semifinals. Oakland finished as tournament champions after defeating Cleveland State 3–1 in the Final.[2] This was the third overall title for Oakland, all of which have come under head coach Eric Pogue.[3] As tournament champions, Oakland earned the Horizon League's automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.
| 2021 Horizon League men's soccer tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Division I | ||||
| Teams | 6 | ||||
| Matches | 5 | ||||
| Attendance | 1,198 | ||||
| Site | Oakland Soccer Field Rochester, Michigan (Semifinals & Final) | ||||
| Champions | Oakland (3rd title) | ||||
| Winning coach | Eric Pogue (3rd title) | ||||
| MVP | Noah Jensen (Oakland) | ||||
| Broadcast | ESPN+ | ||||
| |||||
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland ‡ | 8 | – | 1 | – | 1 | 12 | – | 7 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland State | 8 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 10 | – | 8 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Milwaukee | 6 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 9 | – | 8 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UIC | 6 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 8 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Mercy | 4 | – | 3 | – | 3 | 5 | – | 7 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wright State | 4 | – | 5 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 10 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Morris | 4 | – | 5 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 11 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Kentucky | 4 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 11 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue Fort Wayne | 3 | – | 6 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 9 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IUPUI | 2 | – | 8 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 12 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green Bay | 1 | – | 7 | – | 2 | 2 | – | 10 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: Horizon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeding
editSix Horizon League schools participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record. The top two seeds received byes to the Semifinals and the number one seed hosted the Semifinals and Final. A tiebreaker was required to determine the sixth and final seed of the tournament as Robert Morris and Wright State both finished with 4–5–1 conference records. Robert Morris earned the sixth seed by virtue of their 2–1 win over Wright State on October 2.[4]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oakland | 8–1–1 | 25 |
| 2 | Cleveland State | 8–2–0 | 24 |
| 3 | Milwaukee | 6–3–1 | 19 |
| 4 | UIC | 6–4–0 | 18 |
| 5 | Detroit Mercy | 4–3–3 | 15 |
| 6 | Robert Morris | 4–5–1 | 13 |
Bracket
editSource:[5]
| Quarterfinals Monday, Nov. 7 | Semifinals Thursday, Nov. 11 | Final Saturday, Nov. 13 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Oakland | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | UIC (a.e.t.) | 2 | 4 | UIC | 1 | |||||||||
| 5 | Detroit Mercy | 1 | 1 | Oakland | 3 | |||||||||
| 2 | Cleveland State | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Cleveland State | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Milwaukee | 1 | 3 | Milwaukee | 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Robert Morris | 0 | ||||||||||||
Schedule
editQuarterfinals
edit| November 7, 2021 | #3 Milwaukee | 1–0 | #6 Robert Morris | Milwaukee, WI |
| 1:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report | Stadium: Engelmann Field Attendance: 191 Referee: Michael Allie Assistant referees: Gary Klump Christian Little Fourth official: Alex Hoefstetter |
| November 7, 2021 | #4 UIC | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | #5 Detroit Mercy | Chicago, IL |
| 1:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Flames Field Attendance: 433 Referee: Kevin Fikar Assistant referees: Vitali Hantsevich James Duling Fourth official: Kevin Cavalcanti |
Semifinals
edit| November 11, 2021 | #1 Oakland | 3–1 | #4 UIC | Rochester, MI |
| 1:00 p.m. ET | Report |
|
Stadium: Oakland Soccer Field Attendance: 0 Referee: Michael Allie Assistant referees: Quinton McFarlen Shane Richards Fourth official: Ted Grigorou |
| November 11, 2021 | #2 Cleveland State | 2–1 | #3 Milwaukee | Rochester, MI |
| 4:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Oakland Soccer Field Attendance: 0 Referee: Heber Estrada Assistant referees: Christian Little Jacob Little Fourth official: Ted Grigorou |
Final
edit| November 13, 2021 | #1 Oakland | 3–1 | #2 Cleveland State | Rochester, MI |
| 1:00 p.m. ET |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Oakland Soccer Field Attendance: 574 Referee: Dimitrios Katsimingos Assistant referees: Khalaf Al-Latayfeh Eulogio Villalpando Fourth official: Michael Allie |
Statistics
editGoalscorers
editThere were 15 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 3 goals per match (as of November 13, 2021).
3 goals
- Noah Jensen – Oakland
2 goals
- Paolo Gratton – Milwaukee
1 goal
- Pablo Kawecki – Cleveland State
- Andrew Nicholas – Cleveland State
- Albert Portas – Cleveland State
- Kyle Bandyk – Detroit Mercy
- Dylan Borczak – Oakland
- Mikey Ketteman – Oakland
- Sebastian Nuzzo – Oakland
- Bukola Abdulwahab – UIC
- Eduardo Garica – UIC
- Pau Mateo – UIC
All-Tournament team
editSource:[6]
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Noah Jensen | Oakland |
| Finn Jurak | |
| Adam McAleenan | |
| Kieran Hayes | |
| Thomas M'Barek | Cleveland State |
| Jannis Schmidt | |
| Pablo Kawecki | |
| Paolo Gratton | Milwaukee |
| Shawn Azcueta | |
| Eduardo Garcia | UIC |
| Christian Crespo |
MVP in bold
References
edit- ^ "2020 Horizon League Men's Soccer Championship". horizonleague.org. Horizon League. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "2021 Horizon League Men's Soccer Championship". horizonleague.org. Horizon League. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "Horizon League Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). horizonleague.org. Horizon League. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "Oakland Earns No. 1 seed as #HLMSOC Championship Bracket Set". horizonleague.com. Horizon League. November 3, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "2021 Horizon League Men's Soccer Championship Bracket" (PDF). horizonleague.org. Horizon League. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "Oakland Claims 2021 #HLMSOC Championship". horizonleague.org. Horizon League. November 13, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2022.