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GREENSBORO -- The league's best offense and best defense go head-to-head for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament when UNCG hosts Belmont in the Southern Conference men's soccer championship game.
The second-seeded Spartans (8-2-2) will take on the fourth-seeded Bruins (7-2-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday at UNCG Soccer Stadium. It's UNCG's fourth consecutive appearance in the SoCon tournament title game, the Spartans' second in a row under head coach
Chris Rich.
UNCG edged ETSU, 2-1 and Belmont surprised Furman, 3-1, in last week's semifinal matches.
UNCG beat Belmont, 3-2, in overtime in the 2019 semifinals but lost the championship 1-0 to Mercer.
"I'm excited for the future," Rich said. "There's been progression this season, but we still have a long way to go as a program. I'm grateful for the success we've had so far, grateful to be back in the (SoCon) championship game. But the next step is to win this one."
The Spartans received votes in this week's
College Soccer News Top 30 National Poll following their victory over ETSU in the Southern Conference semifinals. This is the first time this season that UNCG has received votes in the national poll.
UNCG enters Saturday's SoCon championship match against Belmont with a five-match unbeaten streak (4-0-1). The Spartans have outscored opponents during this stretch, 10-3, and recorded three clean sheets.
UNCG comes in with a league-high 24 goals and averages a league-high 14.5 shots per game.
SoCon rookie of the year
Theo Collomb, a freshman forward from France, leads the league in goals (7), points (16) and shots (40).
But he's far from the only scoring threat in UNCG's potent offense.
Midfielder
Mani Austmann, a sophomore from Iceland, has five goals and three assists to rank second in the SoCon with 13 points.
And striker
Fernando Garcia, a junior from Charlotte, has scored five goals in eight games and leads the league with a 0.82 goals per game average.
Freshman forward Sam Coad leads the team with four assists, while junior midfielder
Matthew Cutler has two goals and three assists and is one of three defensive-minded players along with sophomores
Ethan Conley and
Myson Darden who have logged more than 1,000 minutes of playing time.
Defense is Belmont's strength. The Bruins have allowed a league-low nine goals this season, an average of just 0.82 per game.
Belmont senior goalkeeper Drew Romig has four shutouts in eight games this season, and an impressive 0.96 goals-against average. Romig has a .714 save percentage.
Freshman midfielder A.J. Chastonay has five goals and two assists to lead Belmont with 12 points. Junior striker Liam O'Brien has four goals and two assists for 10 points in nine games.
UNCG's defense, meanwhile, is underrated. Goalkeeper
Niclas Wild, a freshman from Germany, is 6-1-2 with three shutouts and a 0.84 goals-against average. And the Spartans are allowing just 0.92 goals per game.
In the teams' only regular-season meeting this year on March 27, UNCG won 3-2 in overtime in a match that featured a crazy finish. Austmann scored on a penalty kick with two seconds left in regulation to tie it, and Collomb headed in a golden goal in OT.
This championhip contest will feature two players who were named to the Top Drawer Men's Soccer Team of the Week: UNCG sophomore
Angel Bacho and freshman midfielder AJ Chastonay. In addition, this game will feature 12 players who earned All-Southern Conference Team recognition.
In the previous four meetings against Belmont, each game was decided by one goal and three of the contests went into overtime.
