2021 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament

2021 Southern Conference men's soccer tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	7
Matches	6
Attendance	1,806
Site	Campus Sites (Higher seed)
Champions	Mercer (4th title)
Winning coach	Brad Ruzzo (4th title)
MVP	Dylan Gaither (Mercer)
Broadcast	ESPN+
Southern Conference men's soccer tournament «2020  2022»

2021 Southern Conference men's soccer standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
UNC Greensboro	5	–	1	–	0			13	–	4	–	1
Mercer ‡	4	–	1	–	1			10	–	8	–	1
Belmont	4	–	2	–	0			13	–	4	–	1
Furman	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	9	–	1
East Tennessee State	1	–	3	–	2			4	–	7	–	3
Wofford	1	–	4	–	1			5	–	10	–	1
VMI	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	16	–	1
‡– SoCon Tournament Champion + – At-large invitation to the 2021 NCAA tournament As of December 14, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: SoCon

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. The Mercer Bears were the tournament champions, defeating Belmont 4–3 in the final. 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. 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.

Seed	School	Conference Record	Points
1	UNC Greensboro	5–1–0	15
2	Mercer	4–1–1	13
3	Furman	4–2–0	12
4	Belmont	4–2–0	12
5	East Tennessee State	1–3–2	5
6	Wofford	1–4–1	4
7	VMI	0–6–0	0

Bracket

Source:

	First Round					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
											2	Mercer	4
						3	Furman	3			3	Furman	0
	6	Wofford	2			6	Wofford	1								2	Mercer	4
	7	VMI	0													4	Belmont	3
											1	UNC Greensboro	1
						4	Belmont	1			4	Belmont	2
						5	East Tennessee State	0

Schedule

First Round

#6 Wofford v #7 VMI

November 1, 2021	#6 Wofford	2–0	#7 VMI	Spartanburg, SC
7:00 p.m. ET	Jackson Worbel 13' Charlie Harris 88'	Report	76' Jakub Mihulka  78' Drew Menges  84' Nathan Lam	Stadium: Snyder Field Attendance: 134 Referee: Kyle Johnston Assistant referees: Khadine Sabara Assistant referees: Tarik Veledar Fourth official: Joe Kirkpatrick

Quarterfinals

#4 Belmont v #5 East Tennessee State

November 5, 2021	#4 Belmont	1–0	#5 East Tennessee State	Greensboro, NC
6:00 p.m. ET	AJ Chastonay 18',  75' Niccolo Dagnoni  74'	Report		Stadium: UNCG Soccer Stadium Attendance: 259 Referee: Brandon Marion Assistant referees: Khadime Sabara Assistant referees: Robert Velbis Fourth official: Jude Carr

#3 Furman v #6 Wofford

November 5, 2021	#3 Furman	3–1	#6 Wofford	Macon, GA
7:00 p.m. ET	Miles Fenton 10' Alfredo Diaz-Santillan 48' Jake Raine 56'	Report	17' Christoffer Saietz  29' Jackson Wrobel  36' Hugo Moldin 80' Nic Parker	Stadium: Betts Stadium Attendance: 40 Referee: Brian Miller Assistant referees: Rick Rogers Assistant referees: James McKean Fourth official: Brandon Adams

Semifinals

#2 Mercer v #3 Furman

November 7, 2021	#2 Mercer	4–0	#3 Furman	Macon, GA
2:00 p.m. ET	Dylan Gaither 7', 59', 51' (pen.) Kevin Kim  49' Logan Longo 88'	Report	62' Arnor Adalsteinsson  68' Ivan Agyaakwah  77' Josh Hosie  77' Jacob Garzon  78' Garrett Singletary	Stadium: Betts Stadium Attendance: 200 Referee: David Erbacher Assistant referees: Kevin Flynn Assistant referees: Benjamin Ellis Fourth official: Patrick Lama

#1 UNC Greensboro v #4 Belmont

November 7, 2021	#1 UNC Greensboro	1–2	#4 Belmont	Greensboro, NC
6:00 p.m. ET	Emmanuel Hagan  84' Fernando Garcia 86'	Report	40' Davis Eddleman 59' Jack Shaw 72' Liam O'Brien	Stadium: UNCG Soccer Stadium Attendance: 823 Referee: Dimitar Chavdarov Assistant referees: Benjamin Wooten Assistant referees: Jeremy Smith Fourth official: Clive Edwards

Final

#2 Mercer v #4 Belmont

November 14, 2021	#2 Mercer	4–3	#4 Belmont	Macon, GA
2:00 p.m.	Dylan Gaither 39' (pen.), 41' Michael Ille 71' Trevor Martineau 88'	Report	20', 21' Liam O'Brien 80',  83' Esteban Lestido	Stadium: Betts Stadium Attendance: 350 Referee: Brandon Adams Assistant referees: Zachary McWhorter Assistant referees: John Rush Fourth official: Carmen Serbio

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 21 goals scored in 6 matches, for an average of 3.5 goals per match.

5 goals

• Dylan Gaither – Mercer

3 goals

• Liam O'Brien – Belmont

1 goal

• AJ Chastonay – Belmont
• Esteban Lestido – Belmont
• Jack Shaw – Belmont
• Alfredo Diaz-Santillan – Furman
• Miles Fenton – Furman
• Jake Raine – Furman
• Michael Ille – Mercer
• Logan Longo – Mercer
• Trevor Martineau – Mercer
• Fernando Garcia – UNC Greensboro
• Charlie Harris – Wofford
• Nic Parker – Wofford
• Jackson Worbel – Wofford

All-Tournament team

Source:

Player	Team
Jacob Garzon	Furman
Alfredo Diaz-Santillan
JC Ngando	UNCG
Fernando Garcia
Drew Romig	Belmont
Niccolo Dagnoni
Liam O'Brien
Ousman Jabang	Mercer
Trevor Martineau
Bryant Jackson
Dylan Gaither

MVP in bold