SPARTANBURG, S.C. – UNCG played to a 1-1 draw with ETSU and waited out Furman’s 1-1 draw with Mercer on Saturday to clinch the Southern Conference regular-season crown and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship.

The event begins with quarterfinals on Saturday, Nov. 7, with No. 4 seed ETSU hosting No. 5 seed Wofford at 7 p.m. No. 3 seed Mercer hosts No. 6 seed VMI in the other quarterfinal at 8 p.m. that day. Both matches can be seen on the SoCon Digital Network.

The winners of those contests advance to the semifinals at Summers-Taylor Stadium in Johnson City, Tenn., on Friday, Nov. 13, to take on No. 1 seed UNCG and No. 2 seed Furman, respectively. Both of those matches will also appear on the SDN.

The championship match will take place Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Seeds 3-6 were locked after Thursday’s contest, a 2-1, overtime win by Furman over Wofford, but it took until Saturday to determine the SoCon’s regular-season champion and top seed.

UNCG and Furman entered play separated by just one point in the standings, meaning the title was up for grabs. Both squads trailed in their Saturday matches, but UNCG got a Damieon Thomas goal just 3:30 after ETSU opened the scoring in the second half, and Furman got a Kevin Pahl goal in the 88th minute to force overtime. Both matches would end up going the distance, with the Spartans and Bucs finishing their draw about 10 minutes before the Furman/Mercer match went final.

With the result, the Spartans finished the regular season with a 10-5-4 overall record and finished league play at 6-1-3 for 21 points. UNCG earned a bye into the semifinals and will await the winner of the Wofford/ETSU match. The Spartans swept the Terriers and played to two draws with ETSU during the regular season.

Furman, the defending tournament champion, finished the regular season with a 7-5-4 mark, including a 6-2-2 SoCon record. With 20 points, the Paladins earned the other bye into the semis and will face either VMI or Mercer. Furman swept VMI and went 1-0-1 against the Bears this season.

Mercer wrapped up the regular season with a 5-3-2 mark (17 points), while VMI was 0-10 in league play. The Bears claimed both regular-season meetings between the squads.

ETSU went 4-4-2 in SoCon play on the season for 14 points, while Wofford was right behind with 13 points at 4-5-1. The teams split their regular-season meetings, with the Terriers earning a 3-2 win in overtime on Sept. 29 and the Bucs claiming the rematch by the same score on Oct. 20.

The tournament winner earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship.

2015 SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship
Quarterfinal Round, Saturday, Nov. 7
Campus sites (at higher seeds)
Match 1: No. 5 Wofford at No. 4 ETSU, 7 p.m. (SDN)
Match 2: No. 6 VMI at No. 3 Mercer, 8 p.m. (SDN)

Semifinals, Friday, Nov. 13
Johnson City, Tenn.
Match 3: No. 1 UNCG vs. Match 1 winner, 3:30 p.m. (SDN)
Match 4: No. 2 Furman vs. Match 2 winner, 6 p.m. (SDN)

Championship, Sunday, Nov. 15
Johnson City, Tenn.
Match 5: Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)

-www.SoConSports.com-