2014 MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET (PDF)
Statesboro, Ga. – The Sun Belt Conference announced the 2014 Men’s Soccer All-Conference teams and individual award winners on Thursday morning. The selections were made in a vote by the league’s six head coaches.
NJIT’s Cristian Marcel and Marko Drljic claimed the top individual offensive and defensive honors respectively. Marcel earned the 2014 Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year award after posting five goals and 12 points on the season, including three game-winning goals. Heading into the tournament Marcel is fourth in NJIT’s Division I era in career goals with 10. He earned recognition as the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week three times this season.
Marcel’s teammate, senior defender Marko Drljic, earned the 2014 Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Year award. He played in 15 matches this season and scored three goals and notched four assists. He’s NJIT’s current career leader in points (37) and assists (15).
Georgia Southern midfielder Thor Svienbjornsson was named the 2014 Men’s Soccer Freshman of the Year. He has started 13 games this season and has a pair of goals. He scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win against Appalachian State on Oct. 25.
Hartwick head coach John Scott earned the 2014 Sun Belt Coach of the Year honor after he led the Hawks to the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed at the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship beginning on Thursday. The Hartwick Hawks earned the No. 1 seed by finishing the regular-season with a 5-0 win vs. Howard.
The Hawks clinched the top seed with 10 total points to edge No. 2 seed Georgia State (8-9-0, 3-2-0) and No. 3 seed Georgia Southern (7-8-0, 3-2-0), which finished tied for second place in the regular-season standings with nine points. Georgia State and Georgia Southern will matchup for the second time in less than a week in the semifinals of the tournament at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.
Georgia Southern is the host institution for the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship. The tournament begins on Thursday, Nov. 13 when No. 4 seed NJIT (7-7-4, 2-3-0) takes on No. 5 seed Appalachian State (6-7-3, 1-2-2) at 6:30 p.m. ET from Eagle Field. The winner of that match advances to face No. 1 seed Hartwick on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
A live stream of all matches will be available on SunBeltSports.org. All matches will be available free of charge.
The 2014 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship final is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 16, at 1:00 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
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2014 Sun Belt First Team All-Conference
Stanley Broaden (Appalachian State, Senior, Forward)
David Vargas Masis (Georgia Southern, Senior, Forward)
Rashid Alarape (Georgia State, Freshman, Forward)
Cristian Marcel (NJIT, Senior, Forward)
Alex Herbst (Appalachian State, Junior, Midfielder)
Thor Svienbjornsson (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Midfielder)
Stephen McGill (Georgia State, Senior, Midfielder)
Alex Beranger (Appalachian State, Junior, Defender)
Chase Park (Georgia Southern, Junior, Defender)
Marko Drljic (NJIT, Senior, Defender)
Jack Falle (Georgia Southern, Junior, Goalkeeper)
2014 Sun Belt Second Team All-Conference
Stephen Chapman (Appalachian State, Sophomore, Forward)
Eric Dinka (Georgia Southern, Junior, Forward)
Emmanuel Raji (Georgia Southern, Junior, Forward)
Donovan Japp (Appalachian State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Jhevaughn Beckford (Hartwick, Senior, Midfielder)
Joshua Mercer (NJIT, Junior, Midfielder)
Ben Steen (Appalachian State, Sophomore, Defender)
Aaron Jones (Georgia State, Sophomore, Defender)
Chris Locandro (Georgia State, Senior, Defender)
Jimmy Myers (NJIT, Junior, Defender)
Tom Buckner (Hartwick, RS-Senior, Goalkeeper)
2014 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year
Cristian Marcel (NJIT, Senior, Forward)
2014 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year
Marko Drljic (NJIT, Senior, Defender)
2014 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year
Thor Svienbjornsson (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Midfielder)
2014 Sun Belt Coach of the Year
John Scott, Hartwick