NEW ORLEANS – Points are at a premium as Sun Belt men’s soccer rounds the corner into the final three matches of the regular season. (RV) James Madison (7-5-2, 4-1-1 SBC) holds a two-point lead over three teams tied for second place with No. 18 South Carolina (10-2-2, 3-1-2 SBC), No. 25 West Virginia (7-2-4, 3-1-2 SBC) and (RV) Marshall (7-2-4, 3-1-2) all holding 11 points.
 
All 10 Sun Belt programs are back on the pitch on Sunday, Oct. 25, though none of the four teams within striking distance of the top spot take on each other. All five matches are streamed on ESPN+ with links found at SunBeltSports.org.
 
A THIRD TO GO
Three rounds of games remain in the 2026 Sun Belt men's soccer season and the hunt for the regular season title is still a close one. (RV) James Madison (7-5-2, 4-1-1 SBC) leads the league table at the moment with 13 points with No. 25 West Virginia, (RV) Marshall and No. 18 South Carolina all sitting just behind the Dukes with a 3-1-2 league record for 11 total points. Georgia Southern (6-3-4, 2-2-2 SBC) and Coastal Carolina (4-5-4, 2-2-2 SBC) each sit with eight points while UCF (6-4-3, 2-3-1 SBC) holds seven and Old Dominion (10-4-0, 2-4-0) holds six. Georgia State and Kentucky both sit outside the postseason field with four points apiece.
 
DUKES IN SEARCH OF THEIR CROWN
James Madison (7-5-2, 4-1-1) leads the Sun Belt standings by two points thanks largely to their +7 goal differential through six games so far. The Dukes suffered their first SBC loss in their last time out at (RV) Marshall, falling 1-0. JMU now sets it sights on Kentucky at home before closing at Old Dominion in the Royal Rivalry and against No. 25 West Virginia in the season finale. A win on Sunday at least keeps the Dukes up two points and at most can swing them to a five-point lead. The lowest number of points needed the win the league in its 10-team configuration was 19 points by West Virginia in 2024.
 
TRENDING TRIO
The trio of No. 18 South Carolina, No. 25 West Virginia and (RV) Marshall all sit tied at the moment in the SBC standings. Marshall has yet to play South Carolina to complete the round-robin loop which will help tiebreakers but at the moment each team is fighting for every point available for the No. 1 seed. WVU travels to Georgia Southern, who previously held a 6-1-4 overall record but has now lost its last two SBC matches to fall to 2-2-2. GS fell at South Carolina, 7-0, in their last time out while WVU beat UCF, 3-0. MU is on the road to Georgia State who sits at 1-4-1 in the league and is outside of the 10-team postseason. The Herd beat JMU, 1-0, in their last match while GSU fell at Old Dominion, 2-1. SC asserted dominance after their first league loss a week ago by beating Georgia Southern 7-0 in their last match. The Gamecocks now travel to UCF to take on the Knights in Orlando. UCF fell at West Virginia in their last bout.
 
HEARTY HANSEN
Hansen recorded his second multi-goal contest of the 2026 season with a brace in UCF’s 5-1 win over (RV) Old Dominion. He now paces the Knights with seven total goals on the campaign, topping his single-season career best. The Cleveland, North Carolina, native is playing his third season with the Knights after red shirting as a freshman in 2023. He leads the squad with 15 points, seven goals, 22 shots, 13 shots on goal and a .591 shot-on-goal percentage. He also sports two game-winning goals this year. He ranks third in the Sun Belt in goals (7), third in points (15) and is tied-sixth in shots on goal (13).
 
RELENTLESS ROBERTO
Roberto, a native of Santos, Brazil, helped Marshall to a 2-0-0 week with road wins over UNC Greensboro (Oct. 13) and Coastal Carolina (Oct. 17). He came off the bench in both contests, taking the field in the 35th minute at UNCG before striking for the game-winning goal at 44:44. He continued his hot streak into the conference weekend, again coming off the bench at Coastal Carolina in a tie game. While he played just 29 minutes, he scored with 2:12 to go to give Marshall a 2-1 advantage and the eventual conference win. His defensive efforts also limited Thundering Herd opponents to just two goals on the week. Roberto was able to play up and down the field as a converted forward and assisted the Herd in their week’s success.
 
POLL PARTY
Four Sun Belt Conference programs were listed in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Poll. South Carolina and West Virginia stayed inside the top 25 for the eighth and fifth respective week, marking the 10th consecutive week with at least two top 25 teams from the Sun Belt. James Madison appears for the first time this season in the receiving votes as does Marshall after two weeks without mention of the Thundering Herd. The Sun Belt now has four teams listed on the poll for the sixth time this season and now owns nine weeks out of 10 with at least three teams mentioned.
 
RPI SUPERSTARS
As of October 19, nine (!!) Sun Belt teams are inside the top 100 of the NCAA Division I RPI. South Carolina (6th), West Virginia (30th), Georgia Southern (31st), James Madison (35th), Marshall (37th), Old Dominion (38th), UCF (69th), Coastal Carolina (96th), Georgia State (98th). Kentucky sits at 134th as well to round out the group. The Sun Belt is third in conference RPI ratings and is one of three conferences with at least nine teams in the top 100 joining the ACC (15), Big Ten (11).
 
NATIONAL NOTICE
West Virginia forward Pablo Pozos is in the national spotlight after earning a spot on the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List earlier this year. He also notched in on the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch listing and was ranked 53rd in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason Top 100. UCF’s Takahiro Fujita also made the United Soccer Coaches listing and ranked 50th in TDS’s Top 100.
 
MIDSEASON MARVELS
Three Sun Belt Men’s Soccer athletes earned a spot on the Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List as announced by the Herman Trophy Midseason Watch List Committee and the United Soccer Coaches. South Carolina’s Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez, West Virginia’s Pablo Pozos and Old Dominion’s Lewis Rourke represent the trio of Sun Belt players named to the coveted list. As noted before, Pozos was a preseason selection on the same list while Velazquez Lopez and Rourke are on the 30-man listing for the first time this season. Fifteen members of the midseason watch list will be selected as semifinalists on Dec. 4 to be voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches. From there, three players will be named finalists with the 2026 recipient named on Jan. 8, 2027, at the Missouri Athletic Club in Saint Louis, Missouri.
 
TITLE DEFENSES
Reigning Sun Belt regular season champion Kentucky is looking for a late season push to stay inside the Sun Belt Tournament field after a 1-9-3 2026 record. 2025 Sun Belt Tournament Champion UCF look to continue building on their 2025 momentum and 6-4-3 start to 2026. Historically, repeat conference tournament champions are hard to come by as four different teams have hoisted the Sun Belt Championship Trophy since 2022 They are: Kentucky in 2022, Marshall in 2023, West Virginia in 2024, and UCF in 2025.
 

Date	Time (CT)	Matchup	Coverage
Sunday, Oct. 25	1 p.m.	No. 25 West Virginia at Georgia Southern	ESPN+ | Stats
Sunday, Oct. 25	3 p.m.	(RV) Marshall at Georgia State	ESPN+ | Stats
Sunday, Oct. 25	5 p.m.	Kentucky at (RV) James Madison	ESPN+ | Stats
Sunday, Oct. 25	5 p.m.	Old Dominion at Coastal Carolina	ESPN+ | Stats
Sunday, Oct. 25	6 p.m.	No. 18 South Carolina at UCF	ESPN+ | Stats