Chattanooga soccer finishes third for SoCon Championships

The Chattanooga women’s soccer team finished third in the Southern Conference, its best-ever in program history, with a 6-2-1 league mark and earned a spot in the Southern Conference Championship this weekend.

The tournament seeding came down to the last day with first and third places still in doubt. Samford, who started the day tied with Furman, scored a 2-0 shutout at UNCG to wrap up the top seed, passing the Paladins who were left a game short when ETSU opted out of the remainder of the season.

The Mocs only had to win in order to hold on to third place. UTC posted a 2-0 win at VMI and finished one point behind the Paladins for the No. 3 seed in the tournament. UNCG’s loss dropped the Spartans out of the tournament and kept Mercer, who also lost a match to the ETSU opt-out, as the No. 4 seed.

Third place is the Mocs’ best finish in program history. UTC finished fourth in 2003 with a 6-2-3 record and tied for fourth in 2004 with a 7-3-1 mark against the conference. Chattanooga beat ETSU 3-1 in the first round of the 2003 tournament for its first-ever win in the championships. This will be UTC’s 12th appearance in the SoCon Tournament.

For just the second time in league history, the tournament has been scaled down to just four teams. This year is due to the SoCon’s cost-cutting measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Topseeded Samford will host No. 4 Mercer in Birmingham and No. 2 Furman will host No. 3 Chattanooga this weekend at Stone Stadium.

Furman finished 6-0-2 and posted a 2-0 victory over the Mocs earlier this season in Greenville. UTC has yet to get a win over the Paladins in 27 tries.