# 2020 Southern Conference men's soccer season

The 2020 Southern Conference men's soccer season is the 25th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28 and conclude on November 4, 2020, culminating with the 2020 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.
On August 13, 2020, the NCAA suspended all fall championships, which coincided with the Southern Conference suspending all fall sports through the end of the calendar year. On September 16, 2020 the NCAA voted on men's soccer resuming play for the 2020–21 academic year on February 3, 2021 as the earliest date to schedule fixtures and April 17, 2021 as the latest date to schedule fixtures.
Despite the delay, teams on an individual basis can schedule competitive fixtures during the Fall 2020 semester. Thus far, Mercer is the only SoCon team that has opted to play games in the fall.

## Background
### Previous season

The 2019 season saw Furman win the SoCon regular season championship, posting a 5–1–0 SoCon record and a 11–7–1 season record. Mercer successfully three-peated in the SoCon Tournament, winning their third consecutive SoCon Tournament championship.
In the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, Mercer lost in the opening round to Charlotte.

### Coaching changes

The 2019–20 offseason saw Charlie Hubbard depart VMI as a head coach. On March 5, 2020, Hubbard resigned to take an assistant coach position with James Madison University. Hubbard coached VMI for one season and finished with an overall record of 1–16–0. On March 23, 2020, VMI assistant coach, Max Watson, was promoted to head coach.
| School | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
| VMI | Charlie Hubbard | Hired by James Madison (asst.) | March 5, 2020 | Preseason | Max Watson | March 23, 2020 |

## Head coaches

    As of the 2019 season
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | SoCon record | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| Belmont | David Costa | Xavier (asst.) | 2 | 5–12–2 (.316) | 5–12–2 (.316) | 1–4–1 (.250) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Tennessee State | David Casper | Kentucky (asst.) | 3 | 17–15–3 (.529) | 17–15–3 (.529) | 8–3–1 (.708) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Furman | Doug Allison | South Carolina (asst.) | 25 | 296–138–55 (.662) | 296–138–55 (.662) | 119–44–18 (.707) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Mercer | Brad Ruzzo | Bradley (asst.) | 13 | 124–97–26 (.555) | 124–97–26 (.555) | 32–16–4 (.654) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| UNC Greensboro | Chris Rich | Duke (asst.) | 2 | 8–9–1 (.472) | 8–9–1 (.472) | 5–1–0 (.833) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VMI | Max Watson | VMI (asst.) | 1 | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wofford | Joel Tyson | Charlotte Independence (asst.) | 2 | 4–13–1 (.250) | 4–13–1 (.250) | 2–3–1 (.417) | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Fall 2020 season
### Fall matches

Mercer University played competitive matches during the fall.
* Index to colors and formatting
* SoCon member won
* SoCon member lost
* SoCon member tied
* SoCon teams in bold
All times Eastern time.
| Date | Time (ET) | Visiting team | Home team | Site | Result | Attendance |
| September 18 | 7:00 p.m. | Georgia State | Mercer | Betts Stadium • Macon, GA | L 1–2 | 161 |
| September 22 | 7:00 p.m. | Georgia Southern | Mercer | Betts Stadium • Macon, GA | W 3–0 | 161 |
| October 6 | 7:00 p.m. | Mercer | Georgia State | GSU Soccer Field • Atlanta, GA | L 0–2 | 298 |
| October 9 | 6:00 p.m. | South Carolina | Mercer | Betts Stadium • Macon, GA | L 0–1 | 116 |
| October 14 | 7:00 p.m. | Mercer | No. 4 Kentucky | Bell Soccer Complex • Lexington, KY | L 1–3 | 97 |

### Rankings
#### United Soccer Coaches

During the fall 2020 season, United Soccer Coaches ran a Top 5 poll for the programs playing in fall.
| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 5 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 |
| Mercer | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |

#### TopDrawerSoccer.com

During the fall 2020 season, United Soccer Coaches ran a Top 10 poll for the programs playing in fall.
| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 |
| Mercer | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |

### Awards and honors

| Date | Player | Position | School | Honor | Ref. |
| September 22, 2020 | Trevor Martineau | FW | Mercer | TopDrawer Soccer Team of the Week | |

## Spring 2021 season
### Preseason poll

The preseason poll will be released in December 2020 or January 2021.
* 1.
* 2.
* 3.
* 4.
* 5.
* 6.
* 7.

### Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were originally to be released in July and August 2020. Only CollegeSoccerNews.com released a preseason poll for 2020.
| | United Soccer | CSN | Soccer America | Top Drawer Soccer |
| Belmont | — | — | — | — |
| ETSU | — | — | — | — |
| Furman | — | — | — | — |
| Mercer | — | — | — | — |
| UNCG | — | — | — | — |
| VMI | — | — | — | — |
| Wofford | — | — | — | — |

### Early season tournaments

Early season tournaments will be announced in late Spring and Summer 2019.
| Team | Tournament | Finish |

### Results

* Index to colors and formatting
* SoCon member won
* SoCon member lost
* SoCon member tied
* SoCon teams in bold
All times Eastern time.† denotes Homecoming game

### Rankings
#### National rankings

| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 |
| Belmont | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Belmont | TDS | | | | |
| East Tennessee State | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| East Tennessee State | TDS | | | | |
| Furman | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Furman | TDS | | | | |
| Mercer | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Mercer | TDS | | | | |
| UNC Greensboro | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| UNC Greensboro | TDS | | | | |
| VMI | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| VMI | TDS | | | | |
| Wofford | USC | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Wofford | TDS | | | | |

#### Regional rankings - South 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' south region ranks teams among the ACC, Atlantic Sun, and SoCon.
* Belmont
* East Tennessee State
* Furman
* Mercer
* UNC Greensboro
* VMI
* Wofford

### Players of the Week

| Week | Offensive | Offensive | Offensive | Defensive | Defensive | Defensive | Ref. |
| Week | Player | Position | Team | Player | Position | Team | Ref. |

## Postseason
### Awards and honors

2020 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Individual Awards :
* Award
* Offensive Player of the Year
* Defensive Player of the Year
* Goalkeeper of the Year
* Coach of the Year
* Newcomer of the Year
2020 SoCon Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Newcomer Team |

### SoCon Tournament

* Semifinals
* 1
* 4
* 2
* 3

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| TBD | | | | | | | | |

## 2021 MLS Draft

The 2021 MLS SuperDraft was held on January 21, 2021. No players from the SoCon were selected in the draft.