2023 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer tournament explained

Year:2023
Conference:Missouri Valley Conference
Gender:men's
Teams:6
Matches:5
Attendance:2,751
Venue:WMU Soccer Complex (Semifinals & Final)
City:Kalamazoo, Michigan
Champions:Western Michigan
Titlecount:1st
Coach:Chad Wiseman
Coachcount:1st
Broadcast:ESPN+
Mvp:Charlie Sharp
Mvpteam:Western Michigan

The 2023 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Missouri Valley Conference held from November 5 through November 11, 2023. The First Round was held at campus sites. The semifinals and finals took place at WMU Soccer Complex in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The defending champions were the Missouri State Bears[1] They were unable to defend their title, losing in the final to the Western Michigan Broncos[2] [3] This was the first conference tournament title for the Western Michigan men's soccer program, as the joined the conference in 2023. Western Michigan had two MAC conference tournament titles prior to joining the MVC. It was also Chad Wiseman's first MVC title as head coach, previously having one in the MAC.[4] As tournament champions, Western Michigan earned the Missouri Valley's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.

Seeding

Six of the nine Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer programs qualified for the 2023 Tournament. Teams were seeded based on regular season conference record and tiebreakers were used to determine seedings of teams that finished with the same record. A tiebreaker was required to determine the fifth and sixth seeds of the tournament as Belmont and Northern Illinois both finished with 3–4–1 regular season records. Northern Illinois defeated Belmont 1–0 in their October 22 regular season meeting. Therefore, Northern Illinois was the fifth seed and Belmont was the sixth seed.[5]

SeedSchoolConference RecordPoints
1Western Michigan7–0–122
2Missouri State6–1–119
3UIC4–2–214
4Bowling Green4–4–012
5Northern Illinois3–4–110
6Belmont3–4–110

Bracket

Source:[6]

Teams were re-seeded after the first round.

Schedule

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

All-Tournament team

Source:[7]

Player Team
Jansen WilsonBelmont
Nathan MastersBowling Green
Jesus BareaMissouri State
Tyler Caton
Gijs Hovius
Rakub RojekNorthern Illinois
Luis Hernandez
Juan GutierrezUIC
Ezau Millan
Landon FisherWestern Michigan
Noah Janes
Charlie Sharp
Nick Stone
MVP in bold

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2022 MVC Men's Soccer Championship. mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. July 14, 2023.
  2. Web site: 2023 MVC Men's Soccer Championship. Missouri Valley Conference. mvc-sports.com. February 14, 2024.
  3. Web site: WMU men's soccer clinches MVC title, will host Green Bay to kickoff NCAA Tournament. MLive Media Group. Matthew. Ehler. November 16, 2023. February 14, 2024.
  4. Web site: Men's Soccer Records. Missouri Valley Conference. mvc-sports.com. February 14, 2024.
  5. Web site: Bracket Set for 2023 MVC Men's Soccer Championship. mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. November 1, 2023. February 14, 2024.
  6. Web site: 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship. mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. November 1, 2023. February 14, 2024.
  7. Web site: Western Michigan Claims MVC Crown with 2-1 Win Over Missouri State. mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. November 11, 2023. February 14, 2024.