SUWANEE, Ga. -- The seeds and pairings are now set for the 2023 SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament following the completion of the regular season schedule on Sunday. In conjunction with the culmination of the regular season, the Men's Soccer Championship website has been launched, which contains schedules, brackets and information related to the participating teams. Official Championships Website | Bracket
Southwestern University earned a 6-2-0 league mark and 18 points and will be the third seed at this year's event. The Pirates, who clinched their tournament slot with a clutch 2-1 victory over Texas Lutheran on Saturday and have played in the last 13 conference postseason events, are looking to return to the SCAC Tournament final for the first time since 2018 and fourth time overall.
Regular season champion Colorado College became the first team to produce an unbeaten and untied mark in conference play since 2014 as the CC Tigers earned the top seed to next weekend's event with a perfect conference record of 8-0-0 and 24 points. Its the program's first regular season title since 2019 and the first time Colorado College has navigated the conference schedule without a blemish. CC has qualified for the postseason conference tournament each of the last 13 years and advanced to the title match four times over that stretch, with the program's last title game appearance coming in 2019.
Trinity University, with a 6-2-0 league record and 18 points, secured the second seed and a berth into the tournament following victories over St. Thomas and Centenary over the weekend. Although both Trinity and Southwestern University finished with identical 6-2-0 league marks, Trinity earned the higher seed by virtue of its head-to-head 4-0 victory over the Pirates on September 29. Trinity, who is making its 15th consecutive conference postseason tournament appearance and has an SCAC record seven men's soccer tournament titles, will be in search of its first tournament championship since 2018.
University of St. Thomas, the two-time defending champions of the event, earned the fourth and final seed after defeating Schreiner, 3-0, on Sunday and finishing with 15 points with a 5-3-0 league mark. Texas Lutheran also finished the regular season with a 5-3-0 league record but lost out on the final tournament slot due to the league's first tiebreaker, which is head-to-head results. St. Thomas defeated TLU, 3-2, on October 8. The Celts are attempting to become the first program to win three consecutive conference tournaments since Trinity wrapped up its impressive seven tournament win streak in 2018.
For the first time since 2011, the men's and women's soccer tournament will be played at the same site and SaberCats Stadium in Houston will serve as host of this year's event. This year's championship is scheduled to open on Friday, November 3 at 5 p.m. CT when No. 1 Colorado College takes on No. 4 St. Thomas in the opening men's semifinal fixture. The second men's semifinal is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT between No. 2 Trinity and No. 3 Southwestern. The two semifinal winners will meet on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.
Tickets for this year's championship can be purchased here.
The seeds for this year's men's tournament are as follows:
1) Colorado College (8-0-0; 24 points)
2) Trinity (6-2-0; 18 points)
3) Southwestern (6-2-0; 18 points)
4) St. Thomas (5-3-0; 15 points)
The winner of the SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Championship, which begins the following weekend.