2023 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament

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
ClassificationDivision I
Teams6
Matches5
Attendance3,841
SiteCampus Sites (1st & 2nd seed)
ChampionsMercer (5th title)
Winning coachBrad Ruzzo (5th title)
MVPSekou Agard (Mercer)
BroadcastESPN+
Southern Conference men's soccer tournament
«2022  2024»
2023 Southern Conference men's soccer standings
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
As of December 12, 2023
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches
Source: SoCon

Seeding

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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

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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

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Quarterfinals

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November 3 #4 UNC Greensboro 1–3 #5 Mercer Johnson City, TN
3:00 p.m. ET
  • Arnaud Tattevin   41'
Report
  •   30' Nick Wanzer
  •   62' Barzee Blama
  •   65' Ehi Aimiuwu
  •   75' Carlos Santamaria
Stadium: Summers-Taylor Stadium
Attendance: 506
Referee: Richard Crowgey
Assistant referees: Zachary McWhorter
Assistant referees: Gunwan Park
Fourth official: Kevin Uitto
November 3 #3 Furman 4–1 #6 VMI Spartanburg, SC
4:00 p.m. ET
  • Christian Kraus   24', 48', 57'
  • Slade Starnes   45'
  • Lloyd Wamu Snell   70'
Report
  •   66' Malcolm McIntosh
Stadium: Snyder Field
Attendance: 70
Referee: Brandon Marion
Assistant referees: Kevin Maurer
Assistant referees: Thomas Rutherford
Fourth official: Khadime Sabara

Semifinals

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November 5 #2 Wofford 0–1 #3 Furman Spartanburg, SC
2:00 p.m. ET
  • Villads Landsperg   46'
  • Hugo Moldin   73'
Report
  •   28' Slade Starnes
  •   80' Alfredo Diaz-Santillan
Stadium: Snyder Field
Attendance: 347
Referee: Matthew Thompson
Assistant referees: Joshua Lampkins
Assistant referees: 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
  • Lucas Lightner   30'
  • Nico Kross   83'
Report
  •   43' Dylan Gaither
  •   60' Nick Wanzer
  •   80' Sekou Agard
  •   106' Team
Stadium: Summers-Taylor Stadium
Attendance: 1,092
Referee: Brandon Marion
Assistant referees: Ryan Starr
Assistant referees: Raymond Thomas
Fourth official: Zachary McWhorter
Penalties
  • Gabriel Ramos  
  • Tarik Pannholzer  
  • David Kovacic  
  • Zayd Idlibi  
  • Chris McKenna  
  • Izzy Garcia  
  •   Omar Hernandez
  •   Carlos Santamaria
  •   Dylan Gaither
  •   Natnael McDonald
  •   Angel Gonzalez
  •   Grant Hampton

Final

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November 12 #3 Furman 0–2 #5 Mercer Greenville, SC
2:00 p.m. ET
  • Luke Tandy   83'
Report
  •   2' Nick Wanzer
  •   6' Carlos Santamaria
  •   44' Kadeem Agard
  •   68' Rayvon McGann
  •   78' Trevor McMullen
Stadium: Stone Stadium
Attendance: 1,826
Referee: William Steffen
Assistant referees: Rick Rogers
Assistant referees: Thomas Brigman
Fourth official: Khadime Sabara

Statistics

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Goalscorers

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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

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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

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  1. ^ "2022 Men's Soccer Championship". soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  2. ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Championship". soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  3. ^ Cox, Jeff (November 13, 2023). "Mercer Men's Soccer clinches Southern Conference title, securing automatic NCAA Tournament bid". WGXA. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  4. ^ "Southern Conference Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  5. ^ "ETSU Clinches The Southern Conference Regular Season Title". soconsports.com. Southern Conference. October 28, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  6. ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Championship" (PDF). soconsports.com. Southern Conference. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  7. ^ "Mercer claims SoCon Men's Soccer Championship". Southern Conference. November 12, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2024.