SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Regular-season champion Samford has claimed the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Southern Conference Women’s Soccer Championship after posting an 8-1-0 league mark this season.
The tournament begins Wednesday with a pair of first-round matches on campus sites. The quarterfinal round follows on Oct. 29-30 at campus sites, while the semifinals and championship will be played at ETSU’s Summers-Taylor Stadium on Nov. 4 and 6, respectively.
The Bulldogs clinched at least a share of their third straight regular-season title with Friday’s 1-0 win over UNCG before claiming it outright with Sunday’s 4-0 win over VMI, its seventh shutout in nine league matches. Samford, which wrapped up the regular season with a 14-5-1 record, will face either No. 8 seed VMI or No. 9 seed The Citadel on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. Eastern.
VMI finished 4-5-0 in league play to tie for seventh in the league but lost the tiebreaker to Western Carolina for the 7 seed. The Keydets set a school record with seven shutouts this season, including Friday’s 1-0 blanking of Chattanooga, and will host a first-round match for the second time in three seasons. The Citadel dropped a 1-0 decision to Mercer on Sunday to finish the season at 1-7-0 in league play and fell 1-0 to VMI in the regular-season meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, on Oct. 16. The squads meet Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Lexington, Virginia, for the right to face Samford.
ETSU downed Furman 2-0 on Sunday to vault the Paladins for the 2 seed. The Bucs, who finished the regular season 8-0-0 at home, enter tournament play at 11-5-2 on the year and went 6-2-1 in SoCon play. ETSU will host a quarterfinal match on Saturday at 7 p.m. and await the winner of Wednesday’s first-round match between No. 7 seed Western Carolina and No. 10 seed Wofford.
Western Carolina and Wofford will be facing off in Cullowhee, North Carolina, for the second straight contest, as the pair concluded the regular season against each other on Sunday, with the Catamounts emerging with a 4-0 home win. WCU went 4-5-0 in league play, tying with VMI but claiming the tiebreaker by virtue of its 1-0 win over the Keydets on Oct. 7. Wofford finished league play with an 0-8-1 mark, playing to a scoreless draw with UNCG on Sept. 30 for its only point of the year. WCU and Wofford will play Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Mercer topped The Citadel 1-0 Sunday to claim the No. 3 seed. The Bears, winners of five straight league games and six straight overall, finished the regular season with a 9-8-1 overall mark and a 6-3-0 SoCon record, tying Furman for third but winning the tiebreaker by virtue of their 1-0 win over the Paladins on Oct. 7. Mercer will host sixth-seeded Chattanooga on Sunday at 4 p.m. The Mocs, who downed Mercer 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 2, finished in a tie for fifth in the league standings with UNCG at 4-4-1 but lost the tiebreaker by virtue of Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Spartans. Chattanooga’s four league wins and .500 SoCon record are its best since the 2005 season.
Defending tournament champion Furman will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed after Sunday’s 2-0 loss to ETSU dropped the Paladins into a tie with Mercer at 6-3-0 in league play. Furman, which went 12-4-1 overall, will host fifth-seeded UNCG on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Spartans, who handed Furman one of its three league losses, finished with a 4-4-1 league mark.
The tournament winner earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship. The SoCon final on Nov. 6 will air live on ESPN3.
2016 SoCon Women’s Soccer Championship
Oct. 26 (Wednesday)
First round (at higher seeds)
Match 1: No. 9 The Citadel at No. 8 VMI, 3 p.m.
Match 2: No. 10 Wofford at No. 7 Western Carolina, 7 p.m.
Oct. 29 (Saturday)
Quarterfinal round (at higher seeds)
Match 3: Winner Match 1 at No. 1 Samford, 7 p.m.
Match 4: No. 5 UNCG at No. 4 Furman, 2 p.m.
Match 5: Winner Match 2 at No. 2 ETSU, 7 p.m.
Oct. 30 (Sunday)
Quarterfinal round (at higher seeds)
Match 6: No. 6 Chattanooga at No. 3 Mercer, 4 p.m.
Nov. 4 (Friday)
Semifinals (Summers-Taylor Stadium; Johnson City, Tenn.)
Match 7: Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4, 5 p.m. (SoCon Digital Network)
Match 8: Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6, 7:30 p.m. (SoCon Digital Network)
Nov. 6 (Sunday)
Final (Summers-Taylor Stadium; Johnson City, Tenn.)
Match 9: Winner Match 7 vs. Winner Match 8, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)
All times Eastern.
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