Men’s Soccer: CUSA Tournament Preview

by Zach

The Lobos (10-6-1, 4-3-1) head to Huntington, West Virginia for the Conference USA Soccer Tournament. In the seven team field, the Lobos are the #5 seed and will face Kentucky in the first round. The Lobos are in a situation where they could not make the NCAA tournament at all or could even get a national seed if they are able to win the tournament. As we have seen in the past with seeding, the Lobos can’t leave anything in the hands of the selection committee and must play this tournament like it is their last match of the season. There are two very good wins available for the Lobos in the first two rounds of the tournament, so they have a great chance to improve their resume.

Tournament Seeding:

  1. Charlotte 7-1-0
  2. South Carolina 5-2-1
  3. FIU 5-2-1
  4. Kentucky 5-3-0
  5. UNM 4-3-1
  6. UAB 2-5-1
  7. ODU 2-5-1

As the top seed, Charlotte will have a bye into the semifinals and will take on the winner of the Kentucky/UNM match. This is really a five team field – which should be clear from the records – as it would be very surprising if UAB or ODU make the title match, let alone win the whole thing.

Lobo Lane Tournament Odds:

  • Charlotte 30%
  • South Carolina 20%
  • FIU 10%
  • Kentucky 20%
  • UNM 15%
  • UAB 2.5%
  • ODU 2.5%

Lobo Results:

The Lobos had a weird conference season, beating four of the five tournament teams while having a loss and a draw against the two teams that didn’t make the tournament. The links are to our match previews for each opponent.

  • Charlotte: The Lobos lost 2-1 at Charlotte after they allowed two penalty kick goals in the first half. The Lobos were able to put pressure on the backline of Charlotte and had opportunities to tie the match in the second half, but couldn’t quite find.
  • South Carolina: The Lobos won 2-1 in a very exciting home match that saw both Chris Wehan and Niko Hansen score. The Lobos didn’t allow South Carolina much room, but did allow a goal on their only great chance.
  • FIU: The Lobos won 4-1 in a match that could have even been worse. This was probably the Lobos best performance so far this season.
  • Kentucky: The Lobos lost the road match 1-0. In this match, the Lobos outplayed Kentucky, but couldn’t find a goal to tie the match at one after a mishit volley found the back of the net for Kentucky in the 5th
  • UAB: The Lobos won the road match 1-0 with Devon Boyce scoring the game winner.
  • ODU: The Lobos won the match 2-0 and didn’t allow ODU to have a good look on goal.

What’s at Stake:

As I mentioned earlier that Lobos are in an interesting spot going into the conference tournament, with a wide range of outcomes:

  • If the Lobos win the tournament, the only thing that they leave in the hands of the selection committee is where they will be placed in the NCAA Tournament field. With the way college soccer has been this year, a 13-6-1 team with a few good wins could be enough for the Lobos to get the 15 or 16 seed in the tournament.
  • If the Lobos win their first two matches against Kentucky and Charlotte, I am pretty confident in saying that a 12-7-1 or 12-6-2 team would be in the field.
  • If the Lobos win their first match against Kentucky and lose to Charlotte, they will have to wait out the rest of the tournaments to play out before finding out if they made the tournament or not.
  • If the Lobos lose to Kentucky in the first round, it is very likely the Lobos would fail to make the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year.

Tournament Schedule:

Quarterfinals Wednesday (All Times MT):

#5 UNM vs. #4 Kentucky 12 PM

#2 South Carolina vs. #7 ODU 2:30 PM

#6 UAB vs. #3 FIU 4:30 PM

Semifinals Friday:

#1 Charlotte vs. Kentucky/UNM winner 2:30 PM

Other quarterfinals winners 5PM

Finals Sunday:

Semifinal winners 12PM