Bracket (PDF)
Championship Central
Men’s Soccer Championship bracket announced, host Coastal Carolina earns top seed
NEW ORLEANS – The host of the 2017 Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Championship, Coastal Carolina, locked up the tournament’s No. 1 seed and won a second consecutive regular-season title with a win in its season finale on Saturday night.
The Chanticleers (10-6-1, 4-1-0) are the top seed in the men’s soccer tournament again after they defeated Georgia State, which earned the No. 2 seed, 3-1 on Saturday in Atlanta, Ga. Both the Chanticleers and Panthers (11-6-1, 3-1-1) earned byes to the semifinal round. The tournament begins with first round matches on Thursday, Nov. 9 and concludes with the championship match on Sunday, Nov. 12.
The first round will feature matchups of No. 3 seed Georgia Southern vs. No. 6 seed Appalachian State and No. 4 seed Hartwick vs. No. 5 seed Howard. Both will be rematches from the regular season finales in which Georgia Southern topped App State 2-0 and Hartwick and Howard tied 1-1. The Eagles (9-7-0, 3-2-0) will take on the Mountaineers (4-8-4, 0-3-2) in the first match of the tournament at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday with the Hawks (7-8-1, 2-2-1) vs. Bison (1-14-2, 0-3-2) match to follow at 7 p.m. ET.
The winner of the Georgia Southern vs. Appalachian State match will take on Georgia State at 4 p.m. ET on Friday, while the Hartwick vs. Howard winner will play Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. ET. As the host institution, Coastal Carolina utilized its option to choose the start time of its first match of the tournament.
All matches of the tournament will be carried on ESPN3 and available on the ESPN app. The championship match of the tournament is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 12.
Men’s Soccer Championship seeds
1. Coastal Carolina – 12 points (4-1-0)
2. Georgia State – 10 points (3-1-1)
3. Georgia Southern – 9 points (3-2-0)
4. Hartwick – 7 points (2-2-1)
5. Howard – 2 points (0-3-2)*
6. Appalachian State – 2 points (0-3-2)*
Men’s Soccer Championship schedule
Thursday, Nov. 9
Match 1: No. 3 Georgia Southern vs. No. 6 Appalachian State – 4 p.m. ET
Match 2: No. 4 Hartwick vs. No. 5 Howard – 7 p.m. ET
Friday, Nov. 10
Match 3: No. 2 Georgia State vs. Winner Match 1 – 4 p.m. ET
Match 4: No. 1 Coastal Carolina vs. Winner Match 2 – 7 p.m. ET
Sunday, Nov. 12
Championship Match: Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4 – 1 p.m. ET
* - Appalachian State and Howard finished the season tied with 2 points. Using the two-team tiebreaker, the teams still tie after a regular-season draw. The next process is to determine which team has the greatest goal differential from all conference matches. Howard wins the two-team tiebreaker based on a -6 goal differential in all conference matches compared to Appalachian State at a -9 goal differential in all conference matches.