The 2020 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer season was the 19th season of men's varsity soccer in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The regular season began on September 18 and concluded on November 6, 2020. The season culminated with the Sun Belt Tournament which began on November 13 and concluded on November 15, 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected the landscape of men's soccer in the Sun Belt Conference. Long-time program, Appalachian State suspended its men's varsity soccer program in the wake of the pandemic, due to anticipated budget cuts in the athletics program. Additionally, Sun Belt associate member Howard opted out of playing during the fall season due to concerns with the ongoing pandemic.
The SBC and Atlantic Coast Conference were the only two men's soccer conferences that played during fall 2020.
The conference opted to play a six-match season with all programs doing a home-and-home series, or double round robin against every program in the conference. Most teams completed the fall season playing only 8–12 matches instead of the normal 15–18 matches.
Discontinuation of men's soccer
Appalachian State's decision to drop men's soccer was the first move that led to the discontinuation of SBC men's soccer after the 2020–21 school year. In July 2020, Howard announced that it would become an associate member of the Northeast Conference in six sports, with men's soccer being one of four sports moving in July 2021.[1] This left the SBC with only four men's soccer members, two less than the six required to maintain an automatic NCAA tournament berth. The next move that affected SBC men's soccer came in January 2021, when the ASUN Conference announced three schools as incoming full members, including SBC associate Central Arkansas.[2] The following month saw Coastal Carolina announce that it would become a single-sport member of Conference USA (C-USA), joining another in-state C-USA associate in South Carolina.[3] This left Georgia Southern and Georgia State as the only remaining Sun Belt men's soccer programs, and those two schools announced they would move that sport to the Mid-American Conference in late May 2021.[4]
Source: Sun Belt Conference Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
All four teams qualified for the modified Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament was played from November 13–15, with Coastal Carolina winning the championship in penalties over Georgia State.
2020 Sun Belt Conference Men's Soccer Individual Awards[25]
Award
Recipient(s)
Player of the Year
George Proctor, Georgia State
Offensive Player of the Year
Aris Briggs, Georgia State
Newcomer of the Year
Tor Saunders, Coastal Carolina
Freshman of the Year
Jason Kemble, Coastal Carolina
Coach of the Year
Shaun Docking, Coastal Carolina
2020 Sun Belt Men's Soccer All-Conference Team[25]
Aris Briggs, Georgia State (F)
Adam Davie, Georgia Southern (F)
Kasper Andersen, Central Ark. (F)
Matthew Fearnley, Georgia State (MF)
Soren Jensen, Central Ark. (MF)
Marcello Jones, Coastal Carolina (MF)
Ross Finnie, Georgia State (MF)
George Proctor, Georgia State (D)
Alberto Suarez, Central Ark. (D)
Mael Couteau, Coastal Carolina (D)
Ramon Munoz, Georgia State (D)
Tor Saunders, Coastal Carolina (GK)
Paul Tyson, Georgia State (GK)
