NEW ORLEANS – All 10 Sun Belt Conference teams take the pitch for their final regular season matches tomorrow with the 2026 men’s soccer regular season coming to a close. All matches can be streamed on ESPN+.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
The final day of Sun Belt Conference men's soccer is here and there is lots left to play for. Six of eight spots are clinched for the 2026 Men's Soccer Championship but teams are still able to move up the ladder for better seeds. Marshall and West Virgina hold a tie with each other with 17 points each but James Madison sits within striking distance at 15 points and closes the regular season with a home match against West Virginia. Marshall hosts Old Dominion in what should be the final finishing match of the night. As it stands, James Madison needs a win against West Virginia to get into the hosting conversation. UCF is fourth with 13 points at the moment with a chance to move up at Georgia Southern Tuesday night. South Carolina and Coastal Carolina are both tied with 11 points and face each other for the season finale. The bottom of the bracket is still undecided with three ties with a shot to fill the final two slots. Georgia Southern and Kentucky are both tied with eight points, currently taking up the last two spots, but Old Dominion is just outside the top eight with seven points. An Old Dominion win at Marshall and combination of losses by Georgia Southern at UCF and Kentucky at Georgia State could see things get cloudy at the last two spots.
TITLE CHASE
Marshall and West Virginia are favorites to take a share of the conference title with wins or ties and a James Madison tie or loss. James Madison can get win the title outright with a win and losses by Marshall and West Virginia.
West Virginia and Marshall tied in the regular season while Marshall defeated James Madison 1-0 as well. West Virginia and James Madison meet on Tuesday night to finish the final portion of the round-robin.
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, Nov. 2. South Carolina (9th), Marshall (16th) and West Virginia (20th) were all inside the top 40. UCF (43rd), Old Dominion (54th), Georgia Southern (56th), James Madison (66th) and Coastal Carolina (85th) round out the group of top 100 teams. Georgia State (107th) and Kentucky (117th) 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.