SoCon Final

SoCon Championship Final
#4 Belmont (13-4-1) at #2 Mercer (9-7-1)
Sunday, Nov. 14 | 1:00 p.m. CT/2:00 p.m. ET
Betts Stadium | Macon, Georgia
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Match Notes

SoCon Championship Bracket | Championship Central

MACON, Ga. – For the second time in program history, the Belmont University men's soccer team will compete for its first conference championship. The fourth-seeded Bruins (13-4-1) face second-seeded Mercer University in the 2021 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship title match Sunday afternoon in Macon, Georgia. Kickoff of the SoCon Championship final is slated for 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET from Betts Stadium.

Belmont is looking to avenge a 3-2 double overtime loss to the host Bears (9-7-1) in the Bruins' final SoCon match on Oct. 23.

The conference tournament championship match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Phil Cox and Ross Goodacre on the call. Live in-game statistics will be available via MercerBears.com. Admission to the SoCon Men's Soccer Championship at Betts Stadium is free.

What's Bruin

• For the first the first time in program history the Bruins will enter a match receiving votes in the national rankings. Belmont received a vote in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll Tuesday following their upset of 25th-ranked and top-seeded University of North Carolina at Greensboro last Sunday evening. The Bruins are also ranked No. 9 in the South Region, according to the United Soccer Coaches' 11th regional poll of 2021.
• Enjoying their best season to date, the Bruins' 13 victories this fall represent the most ever as Belmont has reached 11 wins for just the second time in program history.
• After going 6-1 during the month of October, the Bruins are 2-0 in November following last weekend's quarterfinal and semifinal triumphs in the SoCon Championship.
• Belmont has gone 13-2-1 over its last 16 outings and scored 21 goals in its last nine matches.
• Second-half diving headers by seniors Jack Shaw and Liam O'Brien, paired with elite defensive play and superb goalkeeping, propelled the Bruins past the host Spartans, 2-1, last Sunday. Senior goalkeeper Drew Romig, the two-time SoCon Defensive Player of the Month, came up with five saves and made a plethora of plays that forced UNC Greensboro to come up empty-handed inside the box. Shaw scored in the 59th minute before O'Brien found the back of the net in the 72nd minute. The Spartans' lone goal of the evening came in the 86th minute.
• Belmont fended off 22 shots and 20 corner kicks in the match with UNC Greensboro entering the weekend as the top offensive team in the nation. Despite the Spartans creating plenty of chances to score, the Bruins' defense proved to be unwavering as Belmont seemed to have an answer for every attack.
• Defense is nothing new for the Bruins, who own a single-season program record nine shutouts in 2021. In fact, Belmont ranks among national leaders in several defensive categories. The Bruins are third in the country in save percentage (.844), while 13th nationally in team goals against average (.753) and 17th in shutout percentage (.500).
• Last weekend's victory was Belmont's first over UNC Greensboro in North Carolina and first against the Spartans in the SoCon Championship. The prior two conference tournaments, UNC Greensboro had ended the Bruins' campaign. The win marked the second-straight season Belmont has defeated the top seed and No. 25 team in nation in the SoCon Championship semifinals, doing so during the unique 202-21 spring tournament with a 3-1 upset of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
• Improving to 3-4-1 in true road matches this fall, the Bruins moved to 2-1 in the semifinal round of the league tournament. Belmont is 5-3 overall in SoCon Championship matches.
• Completing the season sweep of the Spartans with last Sunday's semifinal victory, the Bruins picked up their second top-25 win of the season. Belmont also defeated UNC Greensboro 2-1 at home on Oct. 16 when the Spartans were ranked No. 16. On Sept. 14, the Bruins played crosstown rival Lipscomb University, who was ranked No. 22 at the time, to a 1-1 draw.
• Belmont enters Sunday 0-1 in SoCon Championship title matches after dropping a 1-0 decision to second-seeded UNC Greensboro in last season's final in Greensboro, North Carolina.
• The Bruins have had eight different players find the back of the net over their last nine outings with sophomore midfielder AJ Chastonay (5), sophomore forward Esteban Leiva (1), forward O'Brien (7), sophomore midfielder Michael Saunders (1), senior midfielder/defender Esteban Lestido (1), sophomore defender Case Cox (3), senior forward Dagnoni (2) and defender Shaw (1) all registering at least a goal since the start of October.
• Following the end of the regular season, head coach David Costa was tabbed SoCon Co-Head Coach of the Year while six different Belmont players garnered All-SoCon accolades. Dagnoni landed a spot on the All-SoCon First Team for the second time in his career, while O'Brien, Chastonay, senior defender John Bannec, Shaw and Cox were all named All-SoCon Second Team.
• This past Thursday, graduate student midfielder JP Armbruster, Chastonay and senior forward Ares Marlonsson earned Academic All-District^® First Team distinction from College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). It marked the first time in program history three different Bruins were selected as academic all-district in the same year. The trio became the first CoSIDA Academic All-District^® selections since Creaghan Diekema in 2019.
• Earning an assist on O'Brien's go-head goal against the Spartans last weekend, Dagnoni tied the program record for career assists with his 25th. Extending the single-season assist record with his 10th of the fall, Dagnoni is tied with Nico Olsak (2010-13) for the most ever by a Belmont player. He owns a team-best 20 points this fall with five goals and has accounted for 59 points throughout his four-year career, the second-most ever by a Bruin. The Milan, Italy, striker is also tied for the third-most goals in program history with 17 career goals.
• O'Brien's differentiating goal last Sunday was his team-leading ninth of the season, he ranks 31st nationally and fifth in the conference in goals scored. The Freehold, New Jersey, product is tied with Dan Meacock (2008-11) for the fourth-most goals in Belmont history with 15 for his career. Claiming his first assist of the season on Shaw's header in the SoCon Championship semifinals, O'Brien notched three points for the evening. He is responsible for 34 points over four seasons and is in ninth place among the Bruins' all-time points leaders.
• Chastonay has been Belmont's most clutch player this fall as all seven of his goals on the year are game winners. The Louisville, Kentucky, native leads the nation in game-winning goals.
• One of the top goalkeepers in the country, Romig is among national leaders in several statistical categories including ranking fourth among all NCAA Division I goalies in save percentage (.843), ninth in shutouts (8), 13th in goals against average (0.76), 14th in saves (75) and 21st in minutes in front of the net (1,648:28). With his seventh shutout of the season in the Bruins' 2-0 regular season finale win at Easter Illinois on Oct. 26, Romig set the program record for clean sheets in a single season.
• Sunday will be the 20th all-time meeting between Belmont and Mercer with the Bears holding an 11-7-1 lead in the series.
• The Bruins are 2-7-1 against Mercer in Macon with their last road triumph over the Bears coming on Oct. 1, 2005 (2-1).
• In the two teams' regular season meeting on Oct. 23 in Georgia, Mercer jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half before Belmont forced extra time late. The match featured a penalty kick goal by each team with the hosts taking a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute and then tacking on a second score on a PK in 52nd minute. Dagnoni drilled a PK in the 69th to make it a one-goal match before Cox headed in his third goal of the season off a pass from Marlonsson in the 83rd. The Bruins nearly got out of Macon with an all-important draw, which would have allowed Belmont to finish no worse than second in the SoCon race, but the Bears' Trevor Martineau found the back of the net in with 2:45 to go.
• On Tuesday, Sept. 28, Belmont President Dr. Gregory Jones announced the Bruins would be joining the Missouri Valley Conference as its 11th member institution. Belmont will begin competition in the MVC in the fall of 2022. The MVC is comprised of Missouri State, Loyola University Chicago, SIUE, Drake, Bradley and Evansville for men's soccer. The Bruins will make up the seventh member in the league.
• It will be a return to the MVC for Belmont in men's soccer as the Bruins spent the 2000 season as an affiliate league member.

About the Bears

• Mercer, who claimed the No. 2 seed in the 2021 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship after going 4-2 in conference play, is the hottest team in the league having won six of its last seven contests. The Bears (4-1-1) have scored seven goals across their last two matches and are coming off an impressive 4-0 shutout of third-seeded Furman in last Sunday's SoCon Championship semifinals.
• Mercer's lone blemish in league action came 3-0 at UNC Greensboro on Oct. 2. The Bears also played ETSU to scoreless draw in Johnson City, Tennessee (Sept. 25).
• With three SoCon Championship titles to its name since entering the conference, Mercer won the 2019 league tournament after securing back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017.
• Sunday represents the first time the Bears have ever hosted the SoCon Championship title match.
• Mercer's last setback took place in non-conference action down Belmont Boulevard at Lipscomb, a 3-1 road loss on Oct. 26.
• The Bears feature junior midfielder Ousman Jabang, an All-SoCon First Team pick who leads the team with six assists and had dialed up four goals. Junior midfielder Dylan Gaither, who earned All-SoCon Second Team recognition, leads Mercer with 11 goals on the season and 25 total points. Forward Kadeem Agard was placed on the SoCon All-Freshman Team and is second among Bear scorers with five goals, not to mention distributing four assists.

Up Next

Whoever wins Sunday's SoCon title match earns the conference's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The NCAA selection show is set for Monday at 12 p.m. CT and will be streamed live on NCAA.com. The first round of the 48-team national tournament will take place Thursday, Nov. 18 at campus sites.

Follow Belmont men's soccer on social media - @BelmontMSoccer on Twitter and @belmontmsoccer on Instagram - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

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