The 2021 Mid-American Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Mid-American Conference held from November 11 through November 14, 2021. The tournament took place at the NIU Soccer Complex in DeKalb, Illinois, home of the Northern Illinois Huskies, the regular season conference champions. The four-team single-elimination tournament consisted of two rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The West Virginia were the defending champions after having won the title in 2019. There was no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the 2019 champions were considered the defending champions.[1] West Virginia was unable to defend its title, losing to Georgia State in the Semifinals. Northern Illinois would go on to beat Georgia State in the final 2–1 in overtime.[2] The title was the third for the Northern Illinois men's soccer program and the first of which came under head coach Ryan Swan.[3] As tournament champions, Northern Illinois earned the Mid-American's automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.
2021 Mid-American Conference Men's soccer tournament | |||||
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Classification | Division I | ||||
Teams | 4 | ||||
Matches | 3 | ||||
Attendance | 1,011 | ||||
Site | NIU Soccer Complex DeKalb, Illinois | ||||
Champions | Northern Illinois (3rd title) | ||||
Winning coach | Ryan Swan (1st title) | ||||
MVP | Nick Markanich (Northern Illinois) | ||||
Broadcast | None | ||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 21 Northern Illinois ‡ | 4 | – | 0 | – | 2 | 15 | – | 3 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 8 West Virginia + | 4 | – | 1 | – | 1 | 12 | – | 3 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Georgia State + | 3 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 13 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling Green + | 2 | – | 2 | – | 2 | 11 | – | 6 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Michigan | 2 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 7 | – | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Akron + | 2 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 9 | – | 6 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Georgia Southern | 0 | – | 5 | – | 1 | 4 | – | 12 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: MAC |
Seeding
editFour of the seven Mid-American men's soccer programs qualified for the 2021 Tournament. Teams were seeded based on their regular season records. Tiebreakers were used to determine the seedings of teams who finished with identical conference records. No tiebreakers were required as each of the top four teams finished with unique records.[4]
Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
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1 | Northern Illinois | 4–0–2 | 14 |
2 | West Virginia | 4–1–1 | 13 |
3 | Georgia State | 3–3–0 | 9 |
4 | Bowling Green | 2–2–2 | 8 |
Bracket
editSource:[5]
Semifinals Thursday, Nov. 11 | Final Sunday, Nov. 14 | ||||||||
1 | Northern Illinois | 5 | |||||||
4 | Bowling Green | 2 | |||||||
1 | Northern Illinois (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||
3 | Georgia State | 1 | |||||||
2 | West Virginia | 0 | |||||||
3 | Georgia State | 1 |
Schedule
editSemifinals
editNovember 11, 2021 | #2 West Virginia | 0–1 | #3 Georgia State | DeKalb, IL |
4:00 p.m. EST |
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Report |
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Stadium: NIU Soccer Complex Attendance: 50 |
November 11, 2021 | #1 Northern Illinois | 5–2 | #4 Bowling Green | DeKalb, IL |
7:00 p.m. EST |
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Report |
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Stadium: NIU Soccer Complex Attendance: 435 Referee: Kevin Fikar Assistant referees: Michael Nickerson Anthony Vasoli Fourth official: Ted Grigoriou |
Final
editNovember 14, 2021 | #1 Northern Illinois | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | #3 Georgia State | DeKalb, IL |
1:00 p.m. EST |
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Report |
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Stadium: NIU Soccer Complex Attendance: 526 Referee: Calin Radosav Assistant referees: Zachary Richter Besnik Rexhepi Fourth official: Boris Vukovic |
Statistics
editGoalscorers
editThere were 11 goals scored in 3 matches, for an average of 3.67 goals per match.
2 goals
- Nick Markanich – Northern Illinois
- Miguel Maynez – Northern Illinois
1 goal
- Zach Buescher – Bowling Green
- Jacob Erlandson – Bowling Green
- Justin Guest – Georgia State
- Max Wilkins – Georgia State
- Pepe Martinez – Northern Illinois
- Zachariah Thomas – Northern Illinois
- Roque Viegas – Northern Illinois
All-Tournament team
editSource:[6]
Player | Team |
---|---|
Nick Markanich | Northern Illinois |
Pepe Martinez | |
Anthony Markanich | |
Roque Viegas | |
Ramon Munoz | Georgia State |
Gunther Rankenburg | |
Logan Luque | |
Jaker Erlandson | Bowling Green |
Zach Buescher | |
Ryan Baer | West Virginia |
Bjarne Thiesen |
MVP in bold
References
edit- ^ "2019 Men's Soccer Championship". getsomemaction.com. Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- ^ "2021 Men's Soccer Championship". getsomemaction.com. Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- ^ "2019 Mid-American Conference Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). getsomemaction.com. Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- ^ "MAC Men's Soccer Regular Season Concludes, Championship Bracket is Set". getsomemaction.com. Mid-American Conference. November 4, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- ^ "2021 Mid-American Conference Men's Soccer Championship Bracket" (PDF). getsomemaction.com. Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- ^ "NIU Claims First MAC Men's Soccer Title Since 2011". getsomemaction.com. Mid-American Conference. November 14, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2022.