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 TeamLocationStadiumCapacityCoastal Carolina ChanticleersConway, South CarolinaCoastal Carolina University Soccer Field1,000Georgia Southern EaglesStatesboro, GeorgiaEagle Field3,500Georgia State PanthersDecatur, GeorgiaGSU Soccer Complex1,892James Madison DukesHarrisonburg, VirginiaSentara Park1,500Kentucky WildcatsLexington, KentuckyWendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex3,368Marshall Thundering HerdHuntington, West VirginiaVeterans Memorial Soccer Complex1,006Old Dominion MonarchsNorfolk, VirginiaOld Dominion Soccer Complex4,000South Carolina GamecocksColumbia, South CarolinaStone Stadium5,700West Virginia MountaineersMorgantown, West VirginiaDick Dlesk Soccer Stadium1,600

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 NCAATournaments NCAACollege Cups NCAATitlesCoastal Carolina Charleston Southern 24 15 0 0 Georgia Southern Anderson (SC) 7 0 0 0Georgia State Jacksonville (asst.) 12 3 0 0James Madison James Madison (asst.) 5 3 0 0Kentucky Dartmouth (asst.) 11 8 0 0Marshall Charleston (WV) 6 3 1 1Old DominionNorth Carolina (asst.) 25 12 0 0South Carolina Atlanta United Academy 2 0 0 0West Virginia Charleston (WV) 3 1 0 0

Preseason Recruiting classes + Rankings Team SigneesCoastal 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:

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 TeamUSC 2nd TeamTDS 1st Team TDS 2nd TeamCSN 1st Team CSN 2nd Team

Preseason All SBC

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

Preseason exhibitions

Regular season The regular season will begin on August 25, 2022.

Rankings

National rankings   Improvement in ranking Drop in rankingRVReceived votes but were not ranked in Top 25NVNo votes received   Pre Wk 1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 FinalCoastal Carolina NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNone released NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVGeorgia Southern NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNone released NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVGeorgia State RVNVNVRVRVRVNVNVNVNone released NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV 30NVNVNVRVNVNVNVNVJames Madison NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNone released NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVKentucky 865655322None released 15119664334 1063575533Marshall 14118743646None released RV1813995748 171211886846Old Dominion NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNone released NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVSouth Carolina NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNone released NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVWest Virginia 61823NVNVNVNVNVNVNone released 741021NVNVNVNVNV 5329RVNVNVNVNVNV

Regional rankings - USC Southeast Region   Improvement in ranking Drop in rankingRVReceived votes but were not ranked in Top 10NVNo votes received The United Soccer Coaches' Southeast region ranks teams across the Atlantic 10 Conferences.   Wk 1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12Coastal Carolina67NVNVNVNVNVNVGeorgia SouthernNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVGeorgia State96655576James Madison 10NVNVNVNVNVNVNVKentucky31222111Marshall12111222Old DominionNVNVNVNVNVNVNV10South CarolinaNVNV9108788West Virginia2577NVNVNVNV

MLS SuperDraft

Total picks by school

TeamRound 1Round 2Round 3Total Coastal Carolina – – – 0 Georgia Southern – – – 0 Georgia State – – – 0 James Madison – – 1 1 Kentucky – 3 – 3 Marshall – 1 – 1 Old Dominion – – – 0 South Carolina – – – 0 West Virginia – – – 0 Total 0 4 1 5

List of selections

Round Pick # MLS team Player Position College 2 38 Seattle Sounders FC FW Kentucky 41 Colorado Rapids GK Marshall 43 Columbus Crew MF Kentucky 46 Orlando City SC DF Kentucky 3 85 Portland Timbers DF James Madison

References

External links Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer