2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season

2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season
2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Soccer
Duration	August 24, 2023 - October 31, 2023
Number of teams	10
2024 MLS SuperDraft
Top draft pick	Matthew Bell, 16th overall
Picked by	Real Salt Lake
Regular Season
Season champions	Marshall
Season MVP	Offensive:Matthew Bell ; Defensive:Morris Duggan ; Goalkeeper:Gabriel Perrotta
Top scorer	Marcus Caldeira (12); Yutaro Tsukada (12)
Tournament
Champions	Marshall
Runners-up	West Virginia
Finals MVP	Alvaro Garcia-Pascual
Sun Belt Conference men's soccer seasons
	← 2022 2024 →

Last updated July 19, 2024

2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 8 Marshall ‡	7	–	2	–	0	18	–	3	–	0
No. 19 UCF +	6	–	2	–	1	10	–	4	–	2
No. 3 West Virginia +	5	–	1	–	3	17	–	3	–	4
No. 18 James Madison +	4	–	2	–	3	10	–	5	–	5
Kentucky +	3	–	3	–	3	8	–	8	–	4
Georgia State	3	–	4	–	2	6	–	7	–	5
South Carolina	3	–	4	–	2	6	–	9	–	3
Old Dominion	2	–	6	–	1	5	–	7	–	5
Georgia Southern	1	–	5	–	3	2	–	9	–	6
Coastal Carolina	1	–	6	–	2	3	–	9	–	3

‡ – 2023 Sun Belt Conference tournament champion + – At-large invitation to the 2023 NCAA tournament As of December 12, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: Sun Belt

The 2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season will the 21st season of men's varsity soccer in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC), as part of the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season.

Previous season

Kentucky won both the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championship, marking the first time they have won either of the Sun Belt titles. It was Kentucky's seventh overall regular season championship and their sixth overall tournament championship. Kentucky earned the Sun Belt's automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, and Marshall earned an at-large bid. Kentucky was the top-overall seeded team in the entire tournament while Marshall was unseeded. Both teams reached the third round (Sweet 16) of the NCAA tournament before being eliminated.

Milo Yosef of Marshall was named the SBC Player of the Year. Oliver Semmle of Marshall was the first Sun Belt player to be selected in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, being drafted in the second round with the 41st overall pick by the Colorado Rapids.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers	Conway, South Carolina	Coastal Carolina University Soccer Field	1,000
Georgia Southern Eagles	Statesboro, Georgia	Eagle Field	3,500
Georgia State Panthers	Decatur, Georgia	GSU Soccer Complex	1,892
James Madison Dukes	Harrisonburg, Virginia	Sentara Park	1,500
Kentucky Wildcats	Lexington, Kentucky	Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex	3,368
Marshall Thundering Herd	Huntington, West Virginia	Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex	1,006
Old Dominion Monarchs	Norfolk, Virginia	Old Dominion Soccer Complex	4,000
South Carolina Gamecocks	Columbia, South Carolina	Stone Stadium	5,700
UCF Knights	Orlando, Florida	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium	2,000
West Virginia Mountaineers	Morgantown, West Virginia	Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium	1,600

Coaches

Lee Squires was hired in December of 2022 to become the Head Coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles.^[2]Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2022 season

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	SBC record	Ref.
Coastal Carolina	Shaun Docking	Charleston Southern	26	326–167–52 (.646)	306–148–50 (.657)	19–8–6 (.667)	^[3]
Georgia Southern	Lee Squires	Lander	0	140–56–26 (.689)	0–0–0 (–)	0–0–0 (–)	^[4]
Georgia State	Brett Surrency	Georgia State (asst.)	14	135–92–16 (.588)	135–92–16 (.588)	25–13–5 (.640)	^[5]
James Madison	Paul Zazenski	James Madison (asst.)	6	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)
Kentucky	Johan Cedergren	Dartmouth (asst.)	12	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)
Marshall	Chris Grassie	Charleston (WV)	7	166–52–26 (.734)	67–32–18 (.650)	4–1–3 (.688)	^[6]
Old Dominion	Alan Dawson	North Carolina (asst.)	26	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)
South Carolina	Tony Annan	Atlanta United Academy	3	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)
UCF	Scott Calabrese	FIU	6	– (–)	– (–)	0–0–0 (–)
West Virginia	Dan Stratford	Charleston (WV)	4	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll will be released in late August 2023.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
SBC preseason poll
1	Kentucky	93 (6)
2	Marshall	91 (2)
3	West Virginia	77 (1)
4	UCF	68 (1)
5	South Carolina	49
6T	Coastal Carolina	45
6T	Georgia State	45
8	James Madison	40
9	Old Dominion	26
10	Georgia Southern	16

^[7]

Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were released in July and August 2023.^[8]

Coastal Carolina	—	—
	United Soccer	Top Drawer Soccer
Georgia Southern	—	—
Georgia State	—	—
James Madison	—	—
Kentucky	3 (1)	6
Marshall	11	9
Old Dominion	—	—
South Carolina	—	—
UCF	—	—
West Virginia	—	—

Preseason awards

All−American Teams

	USC 1st Team	USC 2nd Team	TDS 1st Team	TDS 2nd Team	CSN 1st Team	CSN 2nd Team

Preseason All SBC

Position	Player	Class	School
Goalkeeper	Casper Mols	So.	Kentucky
Defender	Anderson Rosa	Sr.	UCF
	Max Miller	So.	Kentucky
	Morris Duggan	Sr.	Marshall
Midfielder	Gavin Williams	So.	Georgia State
	Alex Karkowiak	R-Jr.	James Madison
	Eythor Kjartansson	So.	Coastal Carolina
	Andrew Erickson	Sr.	Kentucky
Forward	Casper Grening	Jr.	Kentucky
	Lucca Dourado	Sr.	UCF
	Simon Carlson	Sr.	Georgia State
	Matthew Bell	So.	Marshall

Regular Season

National rankings

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
NR		Not Ranked

		Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Final
Coastal Carolina	USC	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				NR
Coastal Carolina	TDS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Georgia Southern	USC	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				NR
Georgia Southern	TDS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Georgia State	USC	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				NR
Georgia State	TDS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
James Madison	USC	NR	17	8	9	12	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				18
James Madison	TDS	NR	NR	NR	24	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	13	13	14	14	14
Kentucky	USC	3	2	19	24	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				NR
Kentucky	TDS	6	5	9	11	25	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Marshall	USC	11	5	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	6	4	1	None released				8
Marshall	TDS	9	6	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	6	6	3	1	1	9	9	9
Old Dominion	USC	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				NR
Old Dominion	TDS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
South Carolina	USC	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	None released				NR
South Carolina	TDS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
UCF	USC	NV	13	6	5	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	12	None released				19
UCF	TDS	NR	NR	17	15	4	3	2	2	2	2	1	9	14	21	21	21	21
West Virginia	USC	NR	NR	16	4	2	4	3	7	5	2	7	5	None released				3
West Virginia	TDS	NR	NR	NR	10	2	7	4	10	6	1	4	2	2	2	1	1	3

Awards

Source:^[9]

Award	Recipient(s)
2023 Sun Belt Men's Soccer Individual Awards
Coach of the Year	Scott Calabrese – UCF
Offensive Player of the Year	Matthew Bell – Marshall
Defensive Player of the Year	Morris Duggan – Marshall
Goalkeeper of the Year	Gabriel Perrotta – Marshall
Newcomer of the Year	Saku Heiskanen – UCF
Freshman of the Year	Saku Heiskanen – UCF

First Team	Second Team
2023 Sun Belt Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams
Player – School Player - School etc	Player - School Player - School

MLS SuperDraft

The 2024 MLS SuperDraft was held on December 19, 2023.

Total picks by school

Team	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Coastal Carolina	0	0	0	0
Georgia State	0	0	0	0
Georgia Southern	0	0	0	0
James Madison	0	0	0	0
Kentucky	0	0	1	1
Marshall	1	0	1	2
Old Dominion	0	0	0	0
South Carolina	0	0	0	0
UCF	0	1	0	1
West Virginia	3	0	0	3

List of selections

Round	Pick #	MLS team	Player	Position	College	Ref.
1	16	Real Salt Lake	Matthew Bell	FW	Marshall	^[10]
1	20	Minnesota United FC	Marcus Caldeira	FW	West Virginia	^[11]
1	25	Orlando City SC	Yutaro Tsukada	FW	West Virginia	^[12]
1	28	Los Angeles FC	Jackson Lee	GK	West Virginia	^[13]
2	43	Colorado Rapids	Anderson Rosa	DF	UCF	^[14]
3	67	Minnesota United FC	Morris Duggan	DF	Marshall	^[15]
3	77	Atlanta United FC	Casper Mols	GK	Kentucky	^[16]

Related Research Articles

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References

↑ https://sunbeltsports.org/documents/2023/8/24//2023_SBC_Men_s_Soccer_Statistics.pdf
↑ "Georgia Southern Tabs Lee Squires as Men's Soccer Coach". 14 December 2022.
↑ "Shaun Docking - Men's Soccer Coach". goccusports.com.
↑ "Lee Squires - Men's Soccer Coach". gseagles.com.
↑ "2022 MSOC Record Book" (PDF). georgiastatesports.com. December 12, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
↑ "Chris Grassie - Men's Soccer Coach". herdzone.com.
↑ "Sun Belt Announces Men's Soccer Preseason Awards & Poll". 14 August 2023.
↑ "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 DI Men — National". United Soccer Coaches . Kansas City, Missouri. August 1, 2023. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
↑ "2023 Sun Belt Men's Soccer Awards and All-Conference Teams Announced". 3 November 2023.
↑ "Real Salt Lake Signs First-Round 2024 Draft Pick Matthew Bell". Major League Soccer. February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
↑ Blain, Luke (January 9, 2024). "Marcus Caldeira announces return to WVU Men's Soccer". TheDAonline.com. The DA. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
↑ "Orlando City B signs MLS SuperDraft selection Yutaro Tsukada". OrlandoCitySC.com. Orlando City. March 15, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
↑ "Rhode Island FC Signee Drafted in First Round of MLS SuperDraft". RhodeIslandFC.com. Rhode Island FC. December 22, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
↑ "Anderson Rosa Selected by Rapids in MLS SuperDraft 2024 Second Round".
↑ "Minnesota United Signs MLS SuperDraft 2024 Pick Morris Duggan". Major League Soccer. February 23, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
↑ "Casper Mols Drafted to Atlanta United FC in 2024 adidas MLS SuperDraft". 19 December 2023.

External links

Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer

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[1] ttps://sunbeltsports.org/documents/2023/8/24//2023_SBC_Men_s_Soccer_Statistics.pdf

[2] "Georgia Southern Tabs Lee Squires as Men's Soccer Coach". 14 December 2022.

[3] "Shaun Docking - Men's Soccer Coach". goccusports.com.

[4] "Lee Squires - Men's Soccer Coach". gseagles.com.

[5] "2022 MSOC Record Book" (PDF). georgiastatesports.com. December 12, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2023.

[6] "Chris Grassie - Men's Soccer Coach". herdzone.com.

[7] "Sun Belt Announces Men's Soccer Preseason Awards & Poll". 14 August 2023.

[usc_preseason_top_25-8] "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 DI Men — National". United Soccer Coaches . Kansas City, Missouri. August 1, 2023. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.

[9] "2023 Sun Belt Men's Soccer Awards and All-Conference Teams Announced". 3 November 2023.

[10] "Real Salt Lake Signs First-Round 2024 Draft Pick Matthew Bell". Major League Soccer. February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024.

[11] Blain, Luke (January 9, 2024). "Marcus Caldeira announces return to WVU Men's Soccer". TheDAonline.com. The DA. Retrieved January 15, 2023.

[12] "Orlando City B signs MLS SuperDraft selection Yutaro Tsukada". OrlandoCitySC.com. Orlando City. March 15, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2024.

[13] "Rhode Island FC Signee Drafted in First Round of MLS SuperDraft". RhodeIslandFC.com. Rhode Island FC. December 22, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.

[14] "Anderson Rosa Selected by Rapids in MLS SuperDraft 2024 Second Round".

[15] "Minnesota United Signs MLS SuperDraft 2024 Pick Morris Duggan". Major League Soccer. February 23, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.

[16] "Casper Mols Drafted to Atlanta United FC in 2024 adidas MLS SuperDraft". 19 December 2023.

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v t e Sun Belt Conference men's soccer
Current teams	Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Georgia Southern Eagles Georgia State Panthers James Madison Dukes Kentucky Wildcats Marshall Thundering Herd Old Dominion Monarchs South Carolina Gamecocks UCF Knights West Virginia Mountaineers
Inactive teams	Appalachian State Mountaineers South Alabama Jaguars
Rivalries	Big 12 Derby (UCF–West Virginia) Modern Day Hate (Georgia Southern–Georgia State) Mountain State Derby (Marshall–West Virginia) Royal Rivalry (James Madison–Old Dominion) SEC Derby (Kentucky–South Carolina)
Championships & awards	Sun Belt tournament Player of the Year Freshman of the Year Coach of the Year All-Sun Belt teams
Seasons	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996–2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Tournaments	1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

v t e 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season
Regular Season	America East American ASUN ACC Atlantic 10 Big East Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Horizon Ivy MAAC Missouri Valley Northeast Ohio Valley Pac-12 Patriot Southern Summit Sun Belt WAC West Coast
Tournaments	America East American ASUN ACC Atlantic 10 Big East Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Horizon Ivy MAAC Missouri Valley Northeast Ohio Valley Patriot Southern Summit Sun Belt WAC
National Tournaments	NCAA Final
Rankings & awards	Rankings All-Americans 2024 MLS SuperDraft