2023 Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer tournament

2023 OVC men's soccer tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Teams6
Matches5
Attendance2,653
SiteKorte Stadium
Edwardsville, Illinois
ChampionsSIU Edwardsville (1 title)
Winning coachCale Wassermann (SIUE) (1 title)
MVPIgnacio "Nacho" Abeal Pou (SIUE)
BroadcastESPN+
OVC men's soccer tournament
  2024»
2023 Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
SIU Edwardsville ‡ 9 – 0 – 1 16 – 1 – 3
Incarnate Word 4 – 3 – 3 7 – 8 – 5
Liberty 4 – 4 – 2 9 – 6 – 3
Lindenwood # 3 – 3 – 4 7 – 7 – 6
Chicago State 3 – 4 – 3 5 – 10 – 4
Eastern Illinois 3 – 5 – 2 4 – 10 – 5
Houston Christian 2 – 4 – 4 4 – 8 – 6
Southern Indiana # 1 – 6 – 3 2 – 12 – 3
As of December 12, 2023
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches
Source: OVC

The 2023 Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer tournament was the inaugural edition of the Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer tournament. The tournament decided the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) champion and automatic qualifier (AQ) into the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament. All games were played at Ralph Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Illinois.[1]

Background

See also: 2021–2024 NCAA conference realignment

Before the 2022 season, only two OVC members—Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville (SIUE)—sponsored men's soccer, respectively playing that sport in the Summit League and Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).

In February 2022, two NCAA Division II schools that sponsored men's soccer, Lindenwood[2] and Southern Indiana,[3] announced that they would start transitions to Division I and join the OVC that July. Both schools initially placed men's soccer in the Summit League, joining Eastern Illinois.[4]

The OVC still had only four men's soccer schools, two short of the number required for a conference to receive an automatic bid to the Division I tournament. However, further developments in conference realignment would give the OVC the opportunity to add enough members to start a men's soccer league.

Incarnate Word (UIW), a member of the Southland Conference (SLC), announced in November 2021 that it would join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) the following July. Since the SLC sponsors soccer only for women, UIW was then housing men's soccer in the WAC.[5] However, only a week before the full-time move to the WAC would have taken effect, UIW announced it would remain in the SLC.[6] The WAC then removed UIW from its men's soccer league, although it never made an official announcement, and UIW played the 2022 season as in independent.[7]

Also in November 2021, Liberty, then a full member of the ASUN Conference (which sponsors men's soccer) and an FBS independent in football, announced that it would join the FBS Conference USA (C-USA) in 2023.[8] However, C-USA would shut down its men's soccer league after the 2021 season, with all of its men's soccer members joining other conferences for 2022.[a] This left Liberty without a men's soccer home.

Chicago State, which had been a geographic outlier for most of its tenure as a full WAC member, announced it would leave that conference in 2022. It was unable to find a full-time conference home, becoming an all-sports independent,[11] but found a men's soccer home in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).[12] However, the MAC had lost men's soccer associate SIUE to the MVC in 2021[13] and would lose West Virginia to the SBC in 2022.[9] After the departure of West Virginia, the MAC had only five men's soccer members, one short of the six needed to maintain its automatic bid. After failing to find the needed sixth member, the MAC shut down its men's soccer league after the 2022 season.[14]

The OVC then announced on March 28, 2023 that it would add men's soccer as a sponsored sport effective with the 2023 season. The new league would include full members Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, SIUE, and Southern Indiana, plus affiliates Chicago State, Houston Christian, Liberty, and UIW.[15]

Qualification

The top six teams in the Ohio Valley Conferencel earned berths in the OVC Tournament, which was held November 5, 8 & 11 in Edwardsville, Illinois on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The OVC Soccer Conference is divided into two divisions---Members and Affiliates. The first-place finishers in each division are seeds 1 and 2 and received first round byes.[1][16]

All teams were eligible for the OVC Tournament, including both reclassifying teams. Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, were eligible to compete in and win the OVC Tournament this season. Should one of them win the OVC Tournament Championship, the AQ shall be awarded to the tournament runner-up. If the tournament runner-up is also a transitioning school, the AQ representative shall be the third-place team. If the established tie-breaker criteria cannot determine the third-placed team, the AQ shall be the semifinal team that had the highest seed on entry to the tournament.[17]

Bracket

Quarterfinals
November 5
ESPN+ 		Semifinals
November 8
ESPN+ 		Final
November 11
ESPN+
1 SIU Edwardsville 2
4 Lindenwood 2 4 Lindenwood 0
5 Chicago State 0 1 SIU Edwardsville 1
2 Incarnate Word 0
2 Incarnate Word 1
3 Liberty 0 (1) 6 Eastern Illinois 0
6 Eastern Illinois (pen.) 0 (3)

Matches

Quarterfinals

November 5, 2023 Eastern Illinois 0–0 (a.e.t.)
(3–1 p)		 Liberty Edwardsville, Illinois
1:00 PM [1] Stadium: Korte Stadium
Attendance: 269
Referee: Christopher Koloffon
Assistant referees: Bensnik Rexhepi
Assistant referees: Adam Herges
Fourth official: Matthew Geringer
November 5, 2023 Chicago State 0–2 Lindenwood Edwardsville, Illinois
4:00 PM [2] Boasso 5' (Blake, Wright)
Blake 79' (Boasso, Francombe)		 Stadium: Korte Stadium
Attendance: 198
Referee: Calin Radosav
Assistant referees: Justin Tomicich
Assistant referees: Christopher Lauer
Fourth official: George Major

Semifinals

November 8, 2023 Eastern Illinois 0–1 Incarnate Word Edwardsville, Illinois
3:00 PM [3] Diphoko 41' (Ansah) Stadium: Korte Stadium
Attendance: 125
Referee: Art Arustamyn
Assistant referees: Khalaf Malkawi
Assistant referees: Braeden Frey
Fourth official: Shane Butler
November 8, 2023 Lindenwood 0–2 #24 SIU Edwardsville Edwardsville, Illinois
6:00 PM [4] Abeal Pou 70' (Layton)
Abeal Pou 88' (Delascio)		 Stadium: Korte Stadium
Attendance: 724
Referee: Andrew Ellsworth
Assistant referees: Matthew Rodman
Assistant referees: Johann Arnason
Fourth official: Shane Butler

Final

November 11, 2023 Incarnate Word 0–1 #24 SIU Edwardsville Edwardsville, Illinois
6:00 PM [5] Abeal Pou 27' (Moreira, Karolczak) Stadium: Korte Stadium
Attendance: 1337
Referee: Dimitrios Katsimingos
Assistant referees: Kurt Wuebbels
Assistant referees: Ryan Cornell
Fourth official: Shane Butler

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 6 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 1.2 goals per match. Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

3 goals

  • Spain Ignacio Abeal Pou – SIUE

1 goal

  • United States Matteo Boasso – Lindenwood
  • United States Ethan Blake – Lindenwood
  • South Africa Sello Diphoko – Incarnate Word

All-Tournament team

Source:[18]

Player Team
2023 OVC Men's Soccer All-Tournament team
Felipe Kerr Lourenco Eastern Illinois
Maxwell Allen Eastern Illinois
Cameron Caldwell Lindenwood
Matteo Boasso Lindenwood
Luis Zuniga UIW
Dylan Navarijo UIW
Will Ansah UIW
Sam Gomez SIUE
Sam Layton SIUE
Aaron Crabtree SIUE
Ignacio "Nacho" Abeal Pou SIUE

MVP in Bold

Footnotes

  1. ^ Specifically:
    • The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) announced it would reinstate its men's soccer league in 2022 after a one-season hiatus. Four of the revived league's inaugural members came from C-USA. Coastal Carolina was a full SBC member that had housed men's soccer in C-USA; Marshall and Old Dominion were previously full C-USA members before becoming full SBC members; and Kentucky had been a C-USA men's soccer associate. Another new SBC associate, West Virginia, had been a Mid-American Conference (MAC) member in men's soccer, but had announced a move to C-USA for that sport before switching to the SBC.[9]
    • The American Athletic Conference (The American) announced that the remaining four C-USA men's soccer members—Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, and UAB—would join its men's soccer league starting in 2022. Three of the four schools (all but FIU) were set to become full members of The American in 2023.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b "OVC Announces 2023 Men's Soccer Conference Schedule". Ohio Valley Conference. June 19, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  2. ^ "Lindenwood University to Join the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022-23" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  3. ^ "University of Southern Indiana to Join the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022-23" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  4. ^ "Lindenwood, Southern Indiana added as affiliate members for men's soccer and swimming and diving" (Press release). The Summit League. May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  5. ^ "University of the Incarnate Word Accepts Invitation to Join the WAC" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. November 12, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  6. ^ "University of the Incarnate Word Staying in the Southland Conference" (Press release). Southland Conference. June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  7. ^ See "2022 WAC Men's Soccer Standings". Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  8. ^ "Conference USA Adds Four Members" (Press release). Conference USA. November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Sun Belt Conference Announces Return of Men's Soccer This Fall" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  10. ^ "American Announces Affiliate Members in Men's Soccer and Women's Swimming and Diving" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  11. ^ "Chicago State University Announces Plan to Leave Western Athletic Conference in June 2022" (Press release). Chicago State Cougars. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  12. ^ "Chicago State Men's Soccer Joins Mid-American Conference as an Affiliate Member" (Press release). Chicago State Cougars. May 27, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  13. ^ "MVC Adds SIUE As Men's Soccer Affiliate" (Press release). Missouri Valley Conference. June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  14. ^ "MAC to Suspend Sponsoring Men's Soccer Following 2022 Season" (Press release). Mid-American Conference. November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  15. ^ "OVC Adds Men's Soccer as Championship Sport" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. March 28, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  16. ^ "Liberty Favored to Claim Inaugural OVC Men's Soccer Championship". Ohio Valley Conference. August 14, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  17. ^ "OVC Men's Soccer Report - August 22". Ohio Valley Conference. August 22, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  18. ^ "SIUE Wins Inaugural OVC Men's Soccer Tournament Championship". Ohio Valley Conference. November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.