2020 Southern Conference men's soccer season

2020 Southern Conference men's soccer season
2020 Southern Conference men's soccer season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Soccer
Duration	February 3 – April 17, 2021
Number of teams	6
2021 MLS SuperDraft
Regular season
Season MVP	Offensive:; Defensive: ; Goalkeeper:
Tournament
Southern Conference men's soccer seasons
	← 2019 2021 →

2020 Southern Conference men's soccer standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Furman	5	–	0	–	1	7	–	2	–	1
UNCG ‡	3	–	1	–	2	9	–	3	–	2
East Tennessee State	3	–	1	–	2	3	–	5	–	3
Belmont	3	–	2	–	1	7	–	3	–	2
Mercer	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	9	–	1
Wofford	1	–	4	–	1	1	–	7	–	1
VMI	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0


‡– 2020 SoCon Tournament Champion + – Also invited to the 2020 NCAA tournament As of May 3, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches

The 2020 Southern Conference men's soccer season is the 25th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28 and conclude on November 4, 2020, culminating with the 2020 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.

On August 13, 2020, the NCAA suspended all fall championships, which coincided with the Southern Conference suspending all fall sports through the end of the calendar year. On September 16, 2020 the NCAA voted on men's soccer resuming play for the 2020–21 academic year on February 3, 2021 as the earliest date to schedule fixtures and April 17, 2021 as the latest date to schedule fixtures.

Despite the delay, teams on an individual basis can schedule competitive fixtures during the Fall 2020 semester. Thus far, Mercer is the only SoCon team that has opted to play games in the fall.

Background[edit]

Previous season[edit]

The 2019 season saw Furman win the SoCon regular season championship, posting a 5–1–0 SoCon record and a 11–7–1 season record.^[1] Mercer successfully three-peated in the SoCon Tournament, winning their third consecutive SoCon Tournament championship.

In the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, Mercer lost in the opening round to Charlotte.^[2]

Coaching changes[edit]

The 2019–20 offseason saw Charlie Hubbard depart VMI as a head coach. On March 5, 2020, Hubbard resigned to take an assistant coach position with James Madison University.^{[citation needed]} Hubbard coached VMI for one season and finished with an overall record of 1–16–0. On March 23, 2020, VMI assistant coach, Max Watson, was promoted to head coach.^[3]

School	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
VMI	Charlie Hubbard	Hired by James Madison (asst.)	March 5, 2020	Preseason	Max Watson	March 23, 2020

Head coaches[edit]

As of the 2019 season

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	SoCon record	NCAA Tournaments^[4]	Ref.
Belmont	David Costa	Xavier (asst.)	2	5–12–2 (.316)	5–12–2 (.316)	1–4–1 (.250)	0	^[5]
East Tennessee State	David Casper	Kentucky (asst.)	3	17–15–3 (.529)	17–15–3 (.529)	8–3–1 (.708)	0	^[6]
Furman	Doug Allison	South Carolina (asst.)	25	296–138–55 (.662)	296–138–55 (.662)	119–44–18 (.707)	10	^[7]
Mercer	Brad Ruzzo	Bradley (asst.)	13	124–97–26 (.555)	124–97–26 (.555)	32–16–4 (.654)	3	^[8]
UNC Greensboro	Chris Rich	Duke (asst.)	2	8–9–1 (.472)	8–9–1 (.472)	5–1–0 (.833)	0	^[9]
VMI	Max Watson	VMI (asst.)	1	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	0	^[10]
Wofford	Joel Tyson	Charlotte Independence (asst.)	2	4–13–1 (.250)	4–13–1 (.250)	2–3–1 (.417)	0	^[11]

Fall 2020 season[edit]

Fall matches[edit]

Mercer University played competitive matches during the fall.

Index to colors and formatting
SoCon member won
SoCon member lost
SoCon member tied
SoCon teams in bold

All times Eastern time.

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
September 18	7:00 p.m.	Georgia State	Mercer	Betts Stadium • Macon, GA	L 1–2	161
September 22	7:00 p.m.	Georgia Southern	Mercer	Betts Stadium • Macon, GA	W 3–0	161
October 6	7:00 p.m.	Mercer	Georgia State	GSU Soccer Field • Atlanta, GA	L 0–2	298
October 9	6:00 p.m.	South Carolina	Mercer	Betts Stadium • Macon, GA	L 0–1	116
October 14	7:00 p.m.	Mercer	No. 4 Kentucky	Bell Soccer Complex • Lexington, KY	L 1–3	97

Rankings[edit]

United Soccer Coaches[edit]

During the fall 2020 season, United Soccer Coaches ran a Top 5 poll for the programs playing in fall.

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 5
NV		No votes received

	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12
Mercer	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

TopDrawerSoccer.com[edit]

During the fall 2020 season, United Soccer Coaches ran a Top 10 poll for the programs playing in fall.

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10
NV		No votes received

	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12
Mercer	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Awards and honors[edit]

Date	Player	Position	School	Honor	Ref.
September 22, 2020	Trevor Martineau	FW	Mercer	TopDrawer Soccer Team of the Week	^[12]

Spring 2021 season[edit]

Preseason poll[edit]

The preseason poll will be released in December 2020 or January 2021.

	Team Ranking	Points	First Place Votes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Preseason national polls[edit]

The preseason national polls were originally to be released in July and August 2020. Only CollegeSoccerNews.com released a preseason poll for 2020.

Belmont	—	—	—	—
	United Soccer	CSN	Soccer America	Top Drawer Soccer
ETSU	—	—	—	—
Furman	—	—	—	—
Mercer	—	—	—	—
UNCG	—	—	—	—
VMI	—	—	—	—
Wofford	—	—	—	—

Early season tournaments[edit]

Early season tournaments will be announced in late Spring and Summer 2019.

Team	Tournament	Finish

Results[edit]

Index to colors and formatting
SoCon member won
SoCon member lost
SoCon member tied
SoCon teams in bold

All times Eastern time.† denotes Homecoming game

Rankings[edit]

National rankings[edit]

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV		No votes received

		Wk 13
Belmont	USC	None released
Belmont	TDS
East Tennessee State	USC	None released
East Tennessee State	TDS
Furman	USC	None released
Furman	TDS
Mercer	USC	None released
Mercer	TDS
UNC Greensboro	USC	None released
UNC Greensboro	TDS
VMI	USC	None released
VMI	TDS
Wofford	USC	None released
Wofford	TDS

Regional rankings - South Region[edit]

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10
NV		No votes received

The United Soccer Coaches' south region ranks teams among the ACC, Atlantic Sun, and SoCon.

	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12
Belmont
East Tennessee State
Furman
Mercer
UNC Greensboro
VMI
Wofford

Players of the Week[edit]

Week	Offensive			Defensive			Ref.
Week	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team	Ref.

Postseason[edit]

Awards and honors[edit]

Award	Recipient(s)
2020 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Goalkeeper of the Year
Coach of the Year
Newcomer of the Year

First Team	Second Team	Newcomer Team
2020 SoCon Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams

SoCon Tournament[edit]

	Semifinals					Championship

	1

	4



	2

	3

NCAA tournament[edit]

Seed	Region	School	1st round	2nd round	3rd round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
TBD

2021 MLS Draft[edit]

The 2021 MLS SuperDraft was held on January 21, 2021. No players from the SoCon were selected in the draft.^[13]

References[edit]

^ "Furman earns No. 1 seed for SoCon Tournament". soconsports.com. November 2, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
^ "Charlotte men's soccer scores 3-1 win in NCAA first round". WBTV. November 22, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
^ "VMI promotes Watson to men's soccer coach". Roanoke News. March 23, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. ncaa.org. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
^ "David Coast - Belmont Soccer". belmontbruins.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
^ "David Casper | Men's Soccer Coaches". ETSUBucs.com. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
^ "Doug Allison - Head Coach - Men's Soccer Coaches". Furman University. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
^ "Brad Ruzzo - Men's Soccer Coach". Mercer University Athletics. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
^ "Chris Rich named UNCG men's soccer head coach". newsandfeatures.uncg.edu. July 30, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
^ "Max Watson - Head Men's Soccer Coach - Staff Director". vmikeydets.com. Virginia Military Institute Athletics. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
^ "Joel Tyson - Men's Soccer Coach". Wofford College Athletics. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
^ "Men's Team of the Week: September 22". Top Drawer Soccer. September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
^ "2021 SuperDraft Tracker". MLSSoccer.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.

External links[edit]

Southern Conference Men's Soccer

[1] "Furman earns No. 1 seed for SoCon Tournament". soconsports.com. November 2, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2020.

[2] "Charlotte men's soccer scores 3-1 win in NCAA first round". WBTV. November 22, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2020.

[3] "VMI promotes Watson to men's soccer coach". Roanoke News. March 23, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.

[ncaa_brackets-4] "NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. ncaa.org. Retrieved April 19, 2019.

[5] "David Coast - Belmont Soccer". belmontbruins.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.

[6] "David Casper | Men's Soccer Coaches". ETSUBucs.com. Retrieved August 2, 2019.

[7] "Doug Allison - Head Coach - Men's Soccer Coaches". Furman University. Retrieved August 2, 2019.

[8] "Brad Ruzzo - Men's Soccer Coach". Mercer University Athletics. Retrieved August 2, 2019.

[9] "Chris Rich named UNCG men's soccer head coach". newsandfeatures.uncg.edu. July 30, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.

[10] "Max Watson - Head Men's Soccer Coach - Staff Director". vmikeydets.com. Virginia Military Institute Athletics. Retrieved September 25, 2020.

[11] "Joel Tyson - Men's Soccer Coach". Wofford College Athletics. Retrieved August 3, 2019.

[12] "Men's Team of the Week: September 22". Top Drawer Soccer. September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.

[13] "2021 SuperDraft Tracker". MLSSoccer.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.

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v t e Southern Conference men's soccer
Teams	East Tennessee State Buccaneers Furman Paladins Mercer Bears UNC Greensboro Spartans VMI Keydets Wofford Terriers
Championships & awards	Tournament Freshman of the Year
Seasons	2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

v t e 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season
Regular Season	America East American ASUN ACC Atlantic 10 Big East Big South Big Ten ~~Big West~~ Colonial Conference USA Horizon ~~Ivy~~ MAAC Mid-American Missouri Valley Northeast Pac-12 Patriot Southern Sun Belt Summit WAC West Coast
Tournaments	America East American ACC ASUN Atlantic 10 Big East Big South Big Ten ~~Big West~~ Colonial ~~Conference USA~~ Horizon MAAC Missouri Valley Northeast Patriot Southern Sun Belt WAC
National Tournaments	NCAA Final
Rankings & awards	Rankings United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll All-Americans