2021 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament explained

Year:2021
Conference:Southern Conference
Gender:men's
Teams:7
Matches:6
Attendance:1,806
Venue:Campus Sites (Higher seed)
Champions:Mercer
Titlecount:4th
Coach:Brad Ruzzo
Coachcount:4th
Broadcast:ESPN+
Mvp:Dylan Gaither
Mvpteam:Mercer

The 2021 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Southern Conference held from November 1 through November 14, 2021. The tournament was held at campus sites, with the higher seed hosting. The seven-team single-elimination tournament consisted of four rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The UNC Greensboro Spartans were the defending champions but were unable to defend their crown, losing 2–1 in the Semifinals to the Belmont Bruins.[1] The Mercer Bears were the tournament champions, defeating Belmont 4–3 in the final.[2] This was the fourth Southern Conference tournament title for the Mercer men's soccer program, all four of which have come under coach Brad Ruzzo.[3] As tournament champions, Mercer earned the Southern Conference's automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.

Seeding

All seven Southern Conference men's soccer programs qualified for the 2021 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. Tiebreakers were required to determine the third and fourth seeds as Belmont and Furman finished with identical 4–2–0 records. Furman earned the third seed by virtue of defeating Belmont during the regular season 2–1.[4]

SeedSchoolConference RecordPoints
1UNC Greensboro5–1–015
2Mercer4–1–113
3Furman4–2–012
4Belmont4–2–012
5East Tennessee State1–3–25
6Wofford1–4–14
7VMI0–6–00

Bracket

Source:[5]

Schedule

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

All-Tournament team

Source:[6]

Player Team
Jacob GarzonFurman
Alfredo Diaz-Santillan
JC NgandoUNCG
Fernando Garcia
Drew RomigBelmont
Niccolo Dagnoni
Liam O'Brien
Ousman JabangMercer
Trevor Martineau
Bryant Jackson
Dylan Gaither
MVP in bold

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020-21 Men's Soccer Championship. 2021-04-02. soconsports.com. en.
  2. Web site: 2021 Men's Soccer Championship. 2022-03-02. soconsports.com. en.
  3. Web site: Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Record Book. Southern Conference. soconsports.com. March 2, 2022.
  4. Web site: UNCG secures regular-season title; Spartans earn No. 1 seed. soconsports.com. Southern Conference. October 30, 2021. March 2, 2022.
  5. Web site: 2021 Men's Soccer Championship. soconsports.com. Southern Conference. March 2, 2022.
  6. Web site: No. 2 Mercer wins 2021 SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship. Southern Conference. November 14, 2021. March 2, 2022.