Jump to content

2022 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2022 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportSoccer
Number of teams9
Regular Season
Tournament
Sun Belt Conference men's soccer seasons
2022 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 6 Kentucky 5 0 3 15 1 5
No. 12 Marshall+ 4 1 3 11 4 4
Georgia State 4 2 2 12 4 3
West Virginia 3 1 4 7 7 4
Coastal Carolina 2 1 5 5 5 6
Old Dominion 3 4 1 6 8 2
James Madison 2 3 3 8 8 4
South Carolina 1 4 3 5 8 4
Georgia Southern 0 8 0 1 14 1
As of December 13, 2022
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches
Source: Sun Belt

The 2022 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season was the 20th season of men's varsity soccer in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC), marking the return of SBC men's soccer after a one-season hiatus.[1] The season ended with the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.

Background

[edit]

A major conference realignment initially triggered in July 2021 when Oklahoma and Texas announced their plans to leave the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference eventually led to the reinstatement of Sun Belt men's soccer. Further moves in this realignment cycle saw three men's soccer schools announce that they would join the SBC no later than 2023: Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) member James Madison, and then-reigning national champion Marshall and Old Dominion from Conference USA (C-USA). Accordingly, league commissioner Keith Gill announced on November 1, 2021, that SBC men's soccer would be reinstated no later than 2023.[2]

Shortly after James Madison announced its departure for the SBC, the CAA invoked a provision of its bylaws to bar JMU from its conference championship events. This led the SBC to announce on February 2, 2022, that JMU would join the conference in July 2022 instead of 2023.[3] The following month saw a legal dispute between C-USA and the three schools set to leave that league for the SBC (Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, with Southern Miss sponsoring soccer only for women) over their departure date. On March 29, C-USA and those schools reached a settlement that allowed them to join the SBC in July 2022.[4] A little more than a week later on April 6, the SBC announced that men's soccer would be reinstated in 2022. The three incoming members were joined by existing full members Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and Georgia State plus new associate members Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia.[5]

Teams

[edit]

Stadiums and locations

[edit]
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Conway, South Carolina Coastal Carolina University Soccer Field 1,000
Georgia Southern Eagles Statesboro, Georgia Eagle Field 3,500
Georgia State Panthers Decatur, Georgia GSU Soccer Complex 1,892
James Madison Dukes Harrisonburg, Virginia Sentara Park 1,500
Kentucky Wildcats Lexington, Kentucky Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex 3,368
Marshall Thundering Herd Huntington, West Virginia Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex 1,006
Old Dominion Monarchs Norfolk, Virginia Old Dominion Soccer Complex 4,000
South Carolina Gamecocks Columbia, South Carolina Stone Stadium 5,700
West Virginia Mountaineers Morgantown, West Virginia Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium 1,600

Head coaches

[edit]

Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2021 season

Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record Record at school SBC record NCAA
Tournaments[6]
NCAA
College Cups[6]
NCAA
Titles[6]
Coastal Carolina Shaun Docking Charleston Southern 24 318–159–45 (.652) 298–140–43 (.664) 17–7–1 (.700) 15 0 0
Georgia Southern John Murphy Anderson (SC) 7 102–97–25 (.511) 36–53–10 (.414) 10–13–2 (.440) 0 0 0
Georgia State Brett Surrency Jacksonville (asst.) 12 123–88–18 (.576) 123–88–16 (.577) 21–11–3 (.643) 3 0 0
James Madison Paul Zazenski James Madison (asst.) 5 112–41–14 (.713) 42–18–10 (.671) 0–0–0 (–) 3 0 0
Kentucky Johan Cedergren Dartmouth (asst.) 11 116–54–26 (.658) 116–54–26 (.658) 0–0–0 (–) 8 0 0
Marshall Chris Grassie Charleston (WV) 6 155–48–22 (.738) 56–28–14 (.643) 0–0–0 (–) 3 1 1
Old Dominion Alan Dawson North Carolina (asst.) 25 380–190–57 (.652) 251–160–46 (.600) 0–0–0 (–) 12 0 0
South Carolina Tony Annan Atlanta United Academy 2 5–9–2 (.375) 5–9–2 (.375) 0–0–0 (–) 0 0 0
West Virginia Dan Stratford Charleston (WV) 3 79–10–12 (.842) 18–6–7 (.694) 0–0–0 (–) 1 0 0

Preseason

[edit]

Recruiting classes

[edit]
Rankings
Team TDS CSN Signees
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
James Madison
Kentucky
Marshall
Old Dominion
South Carolina
West Virginia

Preseason Coaches polls

[edit]

The 2022 SBC Preseason Poll was released on August 15, 2022. The league's head coaches ranked West Virginia as the preseason favorite, with 5 out of 9 first place votes.[7] Full results of the poll are shown below:

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 West Virginia 5
2 Marshall 3
3 Kentucky 1
4 South Carolina
T-5 Coastal Carolina
T-5 James Madison
7 Georgia State
8 Old Dominion
9 Georgia Southern

Preseason awards

[edit]

All−American Teams

[edit]
USC 1st Team USC 2nd Team TDS 1st Team TDS 2nd Team CSN 1st Team CSN 2nd Team

Preseason All SBC

[edit]
Position Player Class School
Goalkeeper Oliver Semmle 5th Year Marshall
Defender Luis Grassow Senior Kentucky
Robert Screen 5th Year Kentucky
Gabriel Alves Junior Marshall
Bjarne Thiesen Junior West Virginia
Midfielder Ross Finnie Senior Georgia State
Rodrigo Robles Junior James Madison
Vinicius Fernandes 5th Year Marshall
Forward Alvaro Garcia-Pascual Sophomore Coastal Carolina
Luca Erhardt Senior James Madison
Eythor Bjorgolfsson Senior Kentucky
Milo Yosef Senior Marshall

Preseason exhibitions

[edit]
Date Time Visiting team Home team Site TV Result Attendance Ref.
August 12 7:00 p.m. No. 14 Marshall Rio Grande (OH) Evan Davis Soccer FieldRio Grande, OH  Not reported    
August 12 7:00 p.m. UNCG Old Dominion ODU Soccer ComplexNorfolk, VA T 0–0     [1]
August 12 7:00 p.m. No. 6 West Virginia Duquesne Arthur J. Rooney Athletic FieldPittsburgh, PA  Not reported    
August 13 7:00 p.m. James Madison VCU Sports Backers StadiumRichmond, VA ESPN+  Not reported    
August 14 7:00 p.m. No. 15 Wake Forest Coastal Carolina CCU Soccer FieldConway, SC T 1–1    
August 14 7:00 p.m. Winthrop Georgia Southern Eagle Field at Erk ParkStatesboro, GA      
August 14 7:15 p.m. Radford No. 14 Marshall Hoops Family FieldHuntington, WV      
August 16 11:00 a.m. Richard Bland Old Dominion ODU Soccer Complex • Norfolk, VA W 6–0    
August 16 3:00 p.m. Navy James Madison Sentara ParkHarrisonburg, VA      
August 17 7:00 p.m. No. 19 Virginia Tech No. 6 West Virginia Dick Dlesk Soccer StadiumMorgantown, WV (Rivalry) B12N+      
August 19 7:00 p.m. Georgia Southern North Georgia UNG Soccer FieldDahlonega, GA      
August 19 7:00 p.m. No. 24 North Carolina James Madison Sentara Park • Harrisonburg, VA      
August 19 7:30 p.m. No. 14 Marshall No. 20 Maryland Ludwig FieldCollege Park, MD BTN+ L 1–2   2,393 [2]
August 20 7:00 p.m. NC State Coastal Carolina CCU Soccer Field • Conway, SC      
August 20 7:00 p.m. Old Dominion UNCW UNCW Soccer StadiumWilmington, NC      
August 20 7:00 p.m. No. 6 West Virginia No. 15 Wake Forest Spry StadiumWinston-Salem, NC ACCNX T 0–0    
#Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. All times are in Eastern Time.

Regular season

[edit]

The regular season will begin on August 25, 2022.

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
  Pre Wk
1
Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Wk
15
Wk
16
Final
Coastal Carolina USC NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV None released
TDS NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
CSN NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Georgia Southern USC NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV None released
TDS NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
CSN NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Georgia State USC RV NV NV RV RV RV NV NV NV None released
TDS NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
CSN 30 NV NV NV RV NV NV NV NV
James Madison USC NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV None released
TDS NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
CSN NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Kentucky USC 8 6 5 6 5 5 3 2 2 None released
TDS 15 11 9 6 6 4 3 3 4
CSN 10 6 3 5 7 5 5 3 3
Marshall USC 14 11 8 7 4 3 6 4 6 None released
TDS RV 18 13 9 9 5 7 4 8
CSN 17 12 11 8 8 6 8 4 6
Old Dominion USC NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV None released
TDS NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
CSN NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
South Carolina USC NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV None released
TDS NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
CSN NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
West Virginia USC 6 18 23 NV NV NV NV NV NV None released
TDS 7 4 10 21 NV NV NV NV NV
CSN 5 3 29 RV NV NV NV NV NV

Regional rankings - USC Southeast 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' Southeast region ranks teams across the Atlantic 10 Conferences.

  Wk
1
Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Coastal Carolina 6 7 NV NV NV NV NV NV
Georgia Southern NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Georgia State 9 6 6 5 5 5 7 6
James Madison 10 NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Kentucky 3 1 2 2 2 1 1 1
Marshall 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2
Old Dominion NV NV NV NV NV NV NV 10
South Carolina NV NV 9 10 8 7 8 8
West Virginia 2 5 7 7 NV NV NV NV

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Sun Belt Conference Announces Return of Men's Soccer This Fall". April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  2. ^ Traylor, Grant (November 1, 2021). "Sun Belt confirms men's soccer being reinstated". The Herald-Dispatch. Huntington, WV. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  3. ^ "James Madison to Compete in the Sun Belt Conference Beginning Fall 2022" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  4. ^ Thamel, Pete (March 29, 2022). "Move of Marshall, Old Dominion, Southern Miss from Conference USA to Sun Belt now complete". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  5. ^ "Sun Belt Conference Announces Return of Men's Soccer This Fall" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. ncaa.org. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  7. ^ "Sun Belt Announces Men's Soccer Preseason Awards & Poll". sunbeltsports.org. Sun Belt Conference. August 15, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
[edit]