Furman Captures 22nd Regular Season SoCon Men's Soccer Championship

2025 SoCon Championship Bracket (PDF)

Buy Championship Tickets Here (Link)

SPARTANBURG, SC – Furman captured its 22nd Southern Conference regular season men’s soccer championship with a 2-0 road win at Wofford Saturday night. The Paladins have won more SoCon regular season titles than any other program.

The regular season trophy is the first for Furman since 2020 and comes on the heels of a SoCon Tournament Championship and first-round NCAA Tournament win in 2024. The 7th-ranked Paladins (12-1-4, 4-0-1 SoCon) are riding a six-match win streak and lost only once this season despite a challenging, nationally relevant schedule.  The title is the 12th under legendary head coach Doug Allison, who is in his final season in charge of the Paladins.

In matches vs. top-25 teams this season, the Paladins are 2-0-3, with draws against top-10 programs Duke, Virginia Tech, and San Diego. Furman also blitzed No. 8 Gardner-Webb on the road by a score of 4-1 on September 12 and captured a critical 2-0 win over No. 18 UNC Greensboro last week.

This year’s tournament begins on Friday, November 7. Furman will host one side of the bracket in Greenville, SC, and No. 2 seed Mercer will host the other side in Macon, GA. Semifinal matches will be on Sunday, November 9, and the championship match will be at the highest remaining seed on either November 15 or 16.

Furman will play the winner of No. 4 ETSU and No. 5 Wofford on Sunday, November 9, at 2:00 pm in Greenville. The Bucs and Terriers will face off on November 7 at 4:00 pm.

Mercer posted a 3-1-1 mark in SoCon play, including a draw with Furman in the league opener, to earn the No. 2 seed. The Bears will play the winner of No. 3 UNC Greensboro and No. 6 VMI on Sunday, November 9, at 7:00 pm in Macon. The Spartans and Keydets will play on November 7 at 7:00 p.m.

UNCG, ranked No. 21 nationally, secured the No. 3 seed with a 3-0 win over the Bears on Saturday night. The Spartans played a strong national schedule out of conference, posting excellent results and picking up a key regional win over No. 5 High Point. UNCG played well at No. 9 Virginia and No. 3 NC State in October, earning draws in both matches.

VMI ended the regular season on a high note as well, snapping an 87-match losing streak in SoCon play that stretched back to the 2002 season. The Keydets defeated ETSU, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon, its first SoCon win since beating The Citadel, 4-2, on September 16, 2002, in Lexington, VA.

The tournament champion receives the SoCon’s automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship. Tickets can be purchased by clicking on this link .

Final Regular Season Standings

1. #7 Furman (12-1-4, 4-0-1 SoCon)

2. Mercer (5-8-4, 3-1-1 SoCon)

3. #21 UNC Greensboro (10-3-4, 3-2-0 SoCon)

4. ETSU (2-8-4, 2-3-0 SoCon)

5. Wofford (5-10-2, 1-4-0 SoCon)

6. VMI (3-11-3, 1-4-0 SoCon)

First Round

Greenville, SC

Nov. 7 – 4) ETSU vs. 5) Wofford (4:00 pm)

Macon, GA

Nov. 7 – 3) UNC Greensboro vs. 6) VMI (7:00 pm

Semifinals

Greenville, SC

Nov. 9 – 1) Furman vs. ETSU/Wofford winner (2:00 pm)

Macon, GA

Nov. 9 – 2) Mercer vs. UNCG/VMI winner (7:00 pm)

Finals

Nov. 15 or No. 16 at highest remaining seed (time TBD)