NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt men’s soccer race is down to two games remaining in the regular season. All 10 teams return to the pitch on Friday, each vying for a spot in the 2023 Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Championship.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
KNIGHTS MAKE HISTORY: After starting the 2023 season unranked, UCF has claimed the first No. 1 national ranking in a regular-season poll by a team in school history in the United Soccer Coaches’ week nine rankings released Tuesday afternoon, garnering seven of eight first-place votes. The latest ranking comes on the heels of three consecutive weeks with the No. 2 spot, and represents the seventh straight week with a top five national ranking, as well as the ninth consecutive week with a top 15 spot in the organization’s poll. UCF heads into the final two matches of the regular season riding on a conference-best five-match win streak.
STILL STANDING: UCF (9-1-2, 5-1-1 SBC) also overtook first place in the Sun Belt standings with its latest win over South Carolina on Sunday, vaulting past No. 6 Marshall (12-2, 5-2 SBC) and No. 2 West Virginia (11-0-4, 4-0-3 SBC) with a conference-best 16 points. The Herd and the Mountaineers sit one point back in a tie for second with 15 points. With just two matches remaining in the regular season, it will be a battle to the finish as all 10 teams fight for a spot in the
2023 Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Championship. The top eight teams at the conclusion of the regular season will earn a berth to the tournament, with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds set to host the first two rounds.
NUMBERS TO KNOW: The Sun Belt has solidified itself as one of the premiere conferences in college men’s soccer.
• 6 – For the
sixth straight week, the No. 1 team in the
United Soccer Coaches Poll hails from the Sun Belt.
• 5 –
Five Sun Belt programs have earned a spot in the United Soccer Coaches Poll at some point this season: UCF, Marshall, West Virginia, James Madison, and Kentucky.
• 3 – The Sun Belt boasts
three teams in the Top 5 of the RPI, the most of any conference.
• 1 – West Virginia is
one of just three teams that remains unbeaten in 2023.
• 2 –
Two of the top point-getters in NCAA Division I men’s soccer this season hail from the Sun Belt. West Virginia’s Marcus Caldeira and Marshall’s Matthew Bell are ranked tied for 11
th nationally with 25 points in 2023.
HALTING THE HERD: No. 6 Marshall will look to bounce back after a pair of losses, its first of the 2023 season, last week. The Herd suffered its first setback against then-No. 5 West Virginia on Wednesday, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Mountaineers in front of a sold-out crowd in Morgantown, W.Va. Marshall’s misfortune continued into the weekend, falling to Kentucky at home, 2-0. Marshall had not been shut out in 14 matches, since Nov. 27, 2022 in the NCAA Tournament against Indiana, and had not been shut out at home since the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament last year against James Madison. Despite the pair of losses, the Herd remains in a close second place in the Sun Belt standings. Marshall still owns the top scoring offense in the conference (2.87 goals per game), a mark that ranks third nationally, along with a league-best goals against average of 0.857. In its final two matches of the regular season, Marshall will go up against Old Dominion on the road before hosting South Carolina for its Sun Belt finale.
A TIP OF THE HAT: Two Sun Belt men’s soccer players registered a hat trick last week. West Virginia’s Marcus Caldeira helped lead the Mountaineers to a 5-2 victory over previously undefeated Marshall, tallying a trio of goals. The hat trick was the first for a Mountaineer since 2014. Caldeira leads the Sun Belt and ranks fifth nationally with 12 goals on the year. James Madison’s Evan Southern had a four-goal week, capping it off with James Madison’s first hat trick since 2019 as the Dukes snapped a seven-match winless streak with a pair of 3-1 wins. Against Georgia State on Sunday, Southern rattled off all three of the Dukes’ goals and was subsequently named the Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. The forward from South Glastonbury, Conn. sits tied for fifth in the league with six goals in 2023.
WHERE TO WATCH
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