MIAMI (November 6, 2016) – The FIU men's soccer team finished the Conference USA regular season in a tie for second place with South Carolina and earned the No. 3 seed in this week's C-USA Tournament, Nov. 9, 11, 13. The Panthers will face the No. 6 seed UAB in the first round on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in Huntington, West Virginia, at Marshall University's Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.
FIU, who closed out the regular season on Nov. 5 with a 2-1 win over the Blazers, are 8-6-2 on the year and finished C-USA play with a 5-2-1 ledger. UAB comes into the tournament with a 6-8-3 mark on the season.
Fifth-ranked Charlotte (12-2-2, 7-0-1 C-USA) is the top seed in the seven-team field and receives the first-round bye after claiming the program's seventh C-USA regular-season title. The Gamecocks earned the No. 2 seed, followed by the Panthers and Kentucky rounding out the top four. New Mexico, UAB and Old Dominion are slotted as the Nos. 5, 6, 7 seeds, respectively.
2016 C-USA Men's Soccer Championship Bracket
C-USA Men's Soccer Championship Central
2016 C-USA Men's Soccer Statistics and Standings
Multiple tie-breaking scenarios were needed in order to seed four teams correctly. South Carolina and FIU both ended the regular season with 16 conference points. In their matchup on Oct. 10 they battled to a 0-0 double-overtime draw. For the next two tie-breaking scenarios, which are overall goal differential in conference play and record against conference opponents in descending rank order of conference winning percentage, both squads found themselves still knotted. Both teams have a plus-three goal differential and the exact win-loss record against conference opponents in descending rank order.
The fourth tie-breaker of fewest goals allowed in conference play decided the tie-breaker, with the Gamecocks giving up eight goals and the Panthers yielding 10 scores in league play, earning South Carolina the No. 2 seed and FIU at the three spot.
UAB and Old Dominion closed out the season with seven points in league as well as having a 0-0 double-overtime draw on Sept. 24. The Blazers claim the sixth seed due to having a minus-five goal differential in conference play to the Monarchs minus-eight who earned the No. 7 seed.
This year's C-USA Championship begins Wednesday, Nov. 9, with quarterfinal matches at 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). All three quarterfinal matches and both semifinal games will be streamed on the CUSA TV. The championship match is set for Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. EST and will be streamed on ESPN3.
A complete schedule of the 2016 Conference USA Men's Soccer Championship is below.
2016 Conference USA Men's Soccer Championship
Wednesday, November 9 – Quarterfinals
Match 1 – No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 5 New Mexico (CUSA TV) – 2 p.m.
Match 2 – No. 2 South Carolina vs. No. 7 Old Dominion (CUSA TV) – 4:30 p.m.
Match 3 – No. 3 FIU vs. No. 6 UAB (CUSA TV) – 7 p.m.
Friday, November 11 – Semifinals
Match 4 – No. 1 Charlotte vs. Match 1 Winner (C-USA TV) – 4:30 p.m.
Match 5 – Match 2 Winner vs. Match 3 Winner (C-USA TV) – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 13 – C-USA Championship Match
Match 6 – Match 4 Winner vs. Match 5 Winner (ESPN3) – 2 p.m.
All times are Eastern. All matches to be played at Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex in Huntington, West Virginia.
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUMensSoccer) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUMensSoccer) for all the latest Men's Soccer news.
Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
