# 2022 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season

The 2022 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season was the 20th season of men's varsity soccer in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC), marking the return of SBC men's soccer after a one-season hiatus. The season ended with the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.

## Background

A major conference realignment initially triggered in July 2021 when Oklahoma and Texas announced their plans to leave the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference eventually led to the reinstatement of Sun Belt men's soccer. Further moves in this realignment cycle saw three men's soccer schools announce that they would join the SBC no later than 2023: Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) member James Madison, and then-reigning national champion Marshall and Old Dominion from Conference USA (C-USA). Accordingly, league commissioner Keith Gill announced on November 1, 2021, that SBC men's soccer would be reinstated no later than 2023.
Shortly after James Madison announced its departure for the SBC, the CAA invoked a provision of its bylaws to bar JMU from its conference championship events. This led the SBC to announce on February 2, 2022, that JMU would join the conference in July 2022 instead of 2023. The following month saw a legal dispute between C-USA and the three schools set to leave that league for the SBC (Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, with Southern Miss sponsoring soccer only for women) over their departure date. On March 29, C-USA and those schools reached a settlement that allowed them to join the SBC in July 2022. A little more than a week later on April 6, the SBC announced that men's soccer would be reinstated in 2022. The three incoming members were joined by existing full members Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and Georgia State plus new associate members Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

## 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 |
| West Virginia Mountaineers | Morgantown, West Virginia | Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium | 1,600 |

### Head coaches

Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2021 season
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | SBC record | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| Coastal Carolina | Shaun Docking | Charleston Southern | 24 | 318–159–45 (.652) | 298–140–43 (.664) | 17–7–1 (.700) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Georgia Southern | John Murphy | Anderson (SC) | 7 | 102–97–25 (.511) | 36–53–10 (.414) | 10–13–2 (.440) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Georgia State | Brett Surrency | Jacksonville (asst.) | 12 | 123–88–18 (.576) | 123–88–16 (.577) | 21–11–3 (.643) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| James Madison | Paul Zazenski | James Madison (asst.) | 5 | 112–41–14 (.713) | 42–18–10 (.671) | 0–0–0 (–) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Kentucky | Johan Cedergren | Dartmouth (asst.) | 11 | 116–54–26 (.658) | 116–54–26 (.658) | 0–0–0 (–) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Marshall | Chris Grassie | Charleston (WV) | 6 | 155–48–22 (.738) | 56–28–14 (.643) | 0–0–0 (–) | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Old Dominion | Alan Dawson | North Carolina (asst.) | 25 | 380–190–57 (.652) | 251–160–46 (.600) | 0–0–0 (–) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | Tony Annan | Atlanta United Academy | 2 | 5–9–2 (.375) | 5–9–2 (.375) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| West Virginia | Dan Stratford | Charleston (WV) | 3 | 79–10–12 (.842) | 18–6–7 (.694) | 0–0–0 (–) | 1 | 0 | 0 |

## Preseason
### Recruiting classes

Rankings :
* Team
* Coastal Carolina
* Georgia Southern
* Georgia State
* James Madison
* Kentucky
* Marshall
* Old Dominion
* South Carolina
* West Virginia

### Preseason Coaches polls

The 2022 SBC Preseason Poll was released on August 15, 2022. The league's head coaches ranked West Virginia as the preseason favorite, with 5 out of 9 first place votes. Full results of the poll are shown below:
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | West Virginia | 5 |
| 2 | Marshall | 3 |
| 3 | Kentucky | 1 |
| 4 | South Carolina | |
| T-5 | Coastal Carolina | |
| T-5 | James Madison | |
| 7 | Georgia State | |
| 8 | Old Dominion | |
| 9 | Georgia Southern | |

### 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 | Oliver Semmle | 5th Year | Marshall |
| Defender | Luis Grassow | Senior | Kentucky |
| Defender | Robert Screen | 5th Year | Kentucky |
| Defender | Gabriel Alves | Junior | Marshall |
| Defender | Bjarne Thiesen | Junior | West Virginia |
| Midfielder | Ross Finnie | Senior | Georgia State |
| Midfielder | Rodrigo Robles | Junior | James Madison |
| Midfielder | Vinicius Fernandes | 5th Year | Marshall |
| Forward | Álvaro García Pascual | Sophomore | Coastal Carolina |
| Forward | Luca Erhardt | Senior | James Madison |
| Forward | Eythor Bjorgolfsson | Senior | Kentucky |
| Forward | Milo Yosef | Senior | Marshall |

### Preseason exhibitions

| Date | Time | Visiting team | Home team | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 12 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 14 Marshall | Rio Grande (OH) | Evan Davis Soccer Field • Rio Grande, OH | | Not reported | |
| August 12 | 7:00 p.m. | UNCG | Old Dominion | ODU Soccer Complex • Norfolk, VA | | T 0–0 | |
| August 12 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 6 West Virginia | Duquesne | Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field • Pittsburgh, PA | | Not reported | |
| August 13 | 7:00 p.m. | James Madison | VCU | Sports Backers Stadium • Richmond, VA | ESPN+ | Not reported | |
| August 14 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 15 Wake Forest | Coastal Carolina | CCU Soccer Field • Conway, SC | | T 1–1 | |
| August 14 | 7:00 p.m. | Winthrop | Georgia Southern | Eagle Field at Erk Park • Statesboro, GA | | | |
| August 14 | 7:15 p.m. | Radford | No. 14 Marshall | Hoops Family Field • Huntington, WV | | | |
| August 16 | 11:00 a.m. | Richard Bland | Old Dominion | ODU Soccer Complex • Norfolk, VA | | W 6–0 | |
| August 16 | 3:00 p.m. | Navy | James Madison | Sentara Park • Harrisonburg, VA | | | |
| August 17 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 19 Virginia Tech | No. 6 West Virginia | Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium • Morgantown, WV (Rivalry) | B12N+ | | |
| August 19 | 7:00 p.m. | Georgia Southern | North Georgia | UNG Soccer Field • Dahlonega, GA | | | |
| August 19 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 24 North Carolina | James Madison | Sentara Park • Harrisonburg, VA | | | |
| August 19 | 7:30 p.m. | No. 14 Marshall | No. 20 Maryland | Ludwig Field • College Park, MD | BTN+ | L 1–2 | 2,393 |
| August 20 | 7:00 p.m. | NC State | Coastal Carolina | CCU Soccer Field • Conway, SC | | | |
| August 20 | 7:00 p.m. | Old Dominion | UNCW | UNCW Soccer Stadium • Wilmington, NC | | | |
| August 20 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 6 West Virginia | No. 15 Wake Forest | Spry Stadium • Winston-Salem, NC | ACCNX | T 0–0 | |
| $^#$Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. All times are in Eastern Time. |||||||||

## Regular season

The regular season will begin on August 25, 2022.

## Rankings
### National rankings

| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 |
| Coastal Carolina | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Coastal Carolina | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Coastal Carolina | CSN | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Georgia Southern | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Georgia Southern | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Georgia Southern | CSN | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Georgia State | USC | RV | NV | NV | RV | RV | RV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Georgia State | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Georgia State | CSN | 30 | NV | NV | NV | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| James Madison | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| James Madison | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| James Madison | CSN | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Kentucky | USC | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Kentucky | TDS | 15 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | | | | |
| Kentucky | CSN | 10 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | | | | |
| Marshall | USC | 14 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Marshall | TDS | RV | 18 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 8 | | | | |
| Marshall | CSN | 17 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 6 | | | | |
| Old Dominion | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Old Dominion | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Old Dominion | CSN | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| South Carolina | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| South Carolina | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| South Carolina | CSN | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| West Virginia | USC | 6 | 18 | 23 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| West Virginia | TDS | 7 | 4 | 10 | 21 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| West Virginia | CSN | 5 | 3 | 29 | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |

### Regional rankings - USC Southeast Region

| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10 |
| NV | No votes received |
The United Soccer Coaches' Southeast region ranks teams across the Atlantic 10 Conferences.
| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 |
| Coastal Carolina | 6 | 7 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Georgia Southern | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Georgia State | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| James Madison | 10 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Kentucky | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Marshall | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Old Dominion | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | 10 |
| South Carolina | NV | NV | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| West Virginia | 2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | NV | NV | NV | NV |