2023 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament

2023 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	6
Matches	5
Attendance	3,841
Site	Campus Sites (1st & 2nd seed)
Champions	Mercer (5th title)
Winning coach	Brad Ruzzo (5th title)
MVP	Sekou Agard (Mercer)
Broadcast	ESPN+
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
‡– 2023 SoCon tournament Champion + – At-large invitation to the 2023 NCAA tournament As of December 12, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: SoCon

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. 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. 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. As tournament champions, Mercer earned the Southern Conference's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.

Seeding

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.

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

Source:

	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

Quarterfinals

#4 UNC Greensboro v #5 Mercer

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

#3 Furman v #6 VMI

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

#2 Wofford v #3 Furman

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

#1 ETSU v #5 Mercer

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

#3 Furman v #5 Mercer

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

Goalscorers

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

Source:

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