NEW ORLEANS – The final week of Sun Belt Men’s Soccer regular season begins with plenty left to play for for all 10 Sun Belt programs. The penultimate round of matches begins on Thursday, Oct. 29, with two matches and concludes on Friday, Oct. 30, with three more.
 
All matches will be streamed on ESPN+ with links at SunBeltSports.org.
 
HOME STRETCH
Two matches remain for each Sun Belt program and the regular season race is still in full swing, as is the competition to stay in the eight-team Sun Belt Tournament field. The 10 remaining matches are spread over three days with two on Thursday, Oct. 29, three on Friday, Oct. 30, and the regular season finale with five matches on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
 
Coastal Carolina visits No. 13 West Virginia with Georgia State traveling to UCF for Thursday's two matches. WVU (8-2-4, 4-1-2 SBC) is in a three-way tie for the top of the league standings while CCU  (5-5-4, 3-2-2 SBC) is tied for fourth. Georgia State (7-7-2, 1-5-1 SBC) is last in the standings while UCF (7-4-3, 3-3-1 SBC) is sixth and just four points behind the trio of first place teams.
Friday's matches see James Madison head to Old Dominion, Georgia Southern travel to Kentucky and No. 21 Marshall head to No. 23 South Carolina in a battle of ranked teams.
 
The Royal Rivalry sees JMU (7-5-3, 4-1-2 SBC), who is tied for the league lead, and ODU (10-5-0, 2-5-0 SBC), who sits on the cusp of the tournament cut line, meet for the first time since last season's draw and for the 44th time in the series' history. Georgia Southern (6-4-4, 2-3-2 SBC) looks to right the ship after three consecutive losses while Kentucky (1-9-4, 1-4-2 SBC) is out of the postseason tournament by one point at the moment.
 
The headliner of Friday is the ranked-on-ranked battle of No. 21 Marshall (8-2-4, 4-1-2 SBC) and No. 23 South Carolina (10-3-2, 3-2-2 SBC). Marshall is tied for the lead while South Carolina sits three points back in a tie for third. Win, lose or tie, this matchup will shake up the table no matter who comes out on top.
 
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
James Madison, West Virginia and Marshall sit atop the Sun Belt standings in a three-way tie for first place. West Virginia and Marshall have already faced each other this year, playing to a 1-1 draw in Huntington. Marshall owns a win over James Madison with a 1-0 decision. The round-robin circle will not be completed until Nov. 3 when James Madison hosts West Virginia. The top two teams host their portion of the championship bracket but the two-way tie of South Carolina and Coastal Carolina may also have some say in the matter. Coastal takes on West Virginia on Thursday and South Carolina takes on Marshall this Friday. With so much still up in the air, the picture may still be unclear after this weekend.
 
HAND RUNNING HANSEN
Hansen, a native of Cleveland, North Carolina, earns repeat honors after leading the Knights to a 3-2 victory over No. 18 South Carolina – UCF’s first ranked win of the season. Hansen recorded his third multi-goal game of the year, scoring two of UCF’s three goals against South Carolina. Hansen has posted multi-goal performances in two of his last three matches and tallied his third game-winning goal of the season against the nationally-ranked Gamecocks. He paces UCF with nine goals, 19 points, 30 shots and 17 shots on goal.
 
MONSTER MAWER
In his first year as the Mountaineers’ chief netminder, Mawer has put together an impressive season. The Bath, England, native earned his first career weekly honor after making 13 saves across two shutout victories for West Virginia, setting a new career high in both games. Mawer stop six shots in WVU’s 3-0 win over UCF, a new career mark in saves. He then bested his new high with seven saves as the Mountaineers fought to a 1-0 victory on the road at Georgia Southern. He stopped a penalty kick attempt and assisted a West Virginia defense that played down a man from the 81st minute on. He owns 12 starts in the net for West Virginia this season with a 0.58 goals against average with seven goals against him. Mawer also sports a .811 save percentage with 30 saves as well as an 8-1-3 record in the net and seven combined shutouts.
 
POLL PARTY
Three Sun Belt Conference programs were listed in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Poll. West Virginia led the way at No. 13, the highest ranking the Mountaineers have reached this season, with Marshall back inside the top 25 at No. 21 and South Carolina sitting at No. 23. The Sun Belt has had at least three teams listed in the poll in 10 out of 11 weeks. Eight total Sun Belt programs have received a vote in the 2026 poll.
 
RPI SUPERSTARS
Eight Sun Belt men's soccer teams were inside the top 100 of the NCAA Division I RPI on Monday, Oct. 19. South Carolina (6th), West Virginia (17th), Marshall (25th) and Georgia Southern (39th) were all inside the top 40. UCF (53rd), Old Dominion (55th), James Madison (64th) and Coastal Carolina (83rd) round out the group of top 100 teams. Georgia State (101st) and Kentucky (142nd) sat outside the top 100. The Sun Belt is fourth in conference RPI ratings and is one of three conferences with at least eight 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 1-9-4 2026 record. 2025 Sun Belt Tournament Champion UCF look to continue building on their 2025 momentum and 7-4-3 record in 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.