2021 Big West Conference men's soccer tournament
The 2021 Big West Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Big West Conference held on November 3 through 12, 2021. All rounds of the tournament were hosted at the higher seeds home stadium. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The defending champions were the UC Davis Aggies.[2] The Aggies won the tournament in 2019 and are classified as the defending champions because there was no tournament held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] UC Davis was unable to defend its crown, falling to UC Santa Barbara in the Semifinals. UC Santa Barbara would go on to win the title, defeating UC Irvine 4–0 in the final.[4] This was the second Big West tournament title for the UC Santa Barbara program, both of which have come under head coach Tim Vom Steeg.[5] As tournament champions, UC Santa Barbara earned the Big West's automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.
| 2021 Big West Conference men's soccer tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Division I | ||||
| Teams | 6 | ||||
| Matches | 5 | ||||
| Site | Campus Sites (Higher Seed) | ||||
| Champions | UC Santa Barbara (2nd title) | ||||
| Winning coach | Tim Vom Steeg (2nd title) | ||||
| MVP | Finn Ballard McBride[1] (UC Santa Barbara) | ||||
| Broadcast | ESPN+ | ||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Santa Barbara ‡ | 6 | – | 1 | – | 2 | 12 | – | 5 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Irvine | 6 | – | 1 | – | 2 | 8 | – | 8 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cal Poly | 5 | – | 1 | – | 3 | 7 | – | 6 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cal State Bakersfield | 5 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 10 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Davis | 4 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 9 | – | 10 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Riverside | 3 | – | 4 | – | 2 | 9 | – | 7 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sacramento State | 3 | – | 4 | – | 2 | 5 | – | 10 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cal State Northridge | 3 | – | 5 | – | 1 | 4 | – | 13 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC San Diego # | 2 | – | 7 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 11 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cal State Fullerton | 1 | – | 7 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 11 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: Big West | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeding
The top six teams in the regular season earned a spot in the tournament. Teams were seeded based on regular season conference record and tiebreakers were used to determine seedings of teams that finished with the same record. The first and second seeds earned a bye into the Semifinals, and hosted their Semifinal game. A tiebreaker was required to determine the first and second seeds after UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine finished the regular season with identical 6–1–2 records. Their regular season match ended in a tie and the teams had identical goal differential, and therefore goals scored in conference play was used as the tiebreaker. UC Santa Barbara won the tiebreaker and was awarded the first seed and UC Irvine was the second seed. UC Riverside and Sacramento State tied for sixth in the regular season standings with identical 3–4–2 records. UC Riverside earned the sixth and final seed by beating Sacramento State 2–0 in the team's regular season matchup.[6]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UC Santa Barbara | 6–1–2 | 20 |
| 2 | UC Irvine | 6–1–2 | 20 |
| 3 | Cal Poly | 5–1–3 | 18 |
| 4 | Cal State Bakersfield | 5–4–0 | 15 |
| 5 | UC Davis | 4–4–1 | 13 |
| 6 | UC Riverside | 3–4–2 | 11 |
Bracket
Source:[7]
| First round Wednesday, Nov. 3 | Semifinals Saturday, Nov. 6 | Final Saturday, Nov. 12 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | UC Santa Barbara (a.e.t.) | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Cal State Bakersfield | 1 | 5 | UC Davis | 0 | |||||||||
| 5 | UC Davis | 3 | 1 | UC Santa Barbara | 4 | |||||||||
| 2 | UC Irvine | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UC Irvine (pen.) | 2 (4) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Cal Poly | 0 | 6 | UC Riverside | 2 (2) | |||||||||
| 6 | UC Riverside | 1 | ||||||||||||
Schedule
First Round
| November 3, 2021 | #4 Cal State Bakersfield | 1–3 | #5 UC Davis | Bakersfield, CA |
| 6:00 p.m. PT |
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Report |
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Stadium: Main Soccer Field Attendance: 785 Referee: Rene Nunez Assistant referees: Ivan De Christofaro Kevin Zelaya Fourth official: Richard Heron |
| November 3, 2021 | #3 Cal Poly | 0–1 | #6 UC Riverside | San Luis Obispo, CA |
| 7:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
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Stadium: Alex G. Spanos Stadium Attendance: 612 Referee: Ian Anderson Assistant referees: Gustavo Barrinetos John Pranjic Fourth official: Adam Zarrin |
Semifinals
| November 6, 2021 | #1 UC Santa Barbara | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | #5 UC Davis | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 7:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Harder Stadium Attendance: 1,267 Referee: Bernhard Hosu Assistant referees: Ivan De Cristofaro Salma Perez Fourth official: Luis Gutierrez |
| November 6, 2021 | #2 UC Irvine | 2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p) | #6 UC Riverside | Irvine, CA |
| 7:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Anteater Stadium Attendance: 566 Referee: Sean Wright Assistant referees: Trevor Rappleye Jorge Partida Fourth official: Yoel Miller |
| Penalties | ||||
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Final
| November 12, 2021 | #1 UC Santa Barbara | 4–0 | #2 UC Irvine | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 7:00 p.m. PT |
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Report |
|
Stadium: Harder Stadium Attendance: 2,209 Referee: Ronald Hoffman Assistant referees: Trevor Wiseman Trevor Rappleye Fourth official: Magic Berenji |
Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 14 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 2.8 goals per match (as of November 12, 2021).
2 goals
- Robert Mejia – UC Davis
1 goal
- Tom Shepherd – Cal State Bakersfield
- Maximilian Arfsten – UC Davis
- Francesco Montanile – UC Irvine
- Roberto Garcia-Vargas – UC Riverside
- Leopoldo Hernandez – UC Riverside
- Jonick Pineda – UC Riverside
- Salvador Aguilar – UC Santa Barbara
- Henry Davies – UC Santa Barbara
- Ramses Martinez – UC Santa Barbara
- Finn Ballard McBride – UC Santa Barbara
- Nemo Philipp – UC Santa Barbara
1 own goal
- UC Riverside (against UC Irvine)
References
- Big West Conference (November 13, 2021). "Top-Seeded UC Santa Barbara Wins The Big West 2021 Men's Soccer Championship". bigwest.org. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- "UC Davis Wins First Men's Soccer Tourney Title". bigwest.org. November 15, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Big West Cancels Fall Sports". bigwest.org. Big West Conference. December 10, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- Big West Conference. "2021 BIG WEST MEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT". bigwest.org. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- "Big West Men's Soccer Records" (PDF). bigwest.org. Big West Conference. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- "Tournament Field Set For The Big West 2021 Men's Soccer Championship". bigwest.org. Big West Conference. October 31, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- "The Big West 2021 Men's Soccer Championship". Big West Conference. Retrieved February 7, 2022.