Sun Belt Olympic Sports Update for Oct. 23rd
While football continues to take center stage, many other Sun Belt student-athletes are making their mark on the national scene.
Here’s a look at how teams across the conference fared in the past week.
All rankings are accurate as of Oct. 19.
Men’s Soccer
After Georgia Southern lost to an unranked UCF squad dropped them 13 spots last week, West Virginia followed suit with an equally shocking result. In their first regular-season road loss since falling to Dayton last season, the Mountaineers (9-2-2, 4-1-0 SBC) fell to Georgia State 2-1. With the match tied at one goal apiece, Dylan Williams scored the go-ahead goal in the 74th minute to give the Panthers their first victory over a ranked team since 2017, when they defeated then-No. 2 Wake Forest. Williams was honored as this week’s Offensive Player of the Week.
Kentucky got back to their winning ways but needed some late match heroics against South Carolina. With the match tied at one goal apiece, Bains Smith picked the right time to net his first goal of the season, finding the back of the net in the 81st minute to give the Wildcats (6-2-3, 3-1-0 SBC) the victory.
[Wednesday fixtures]
Marshall’s Rai Pinto earned Defensive Player of the Week honors, the first Thundering Herd player to earn a player of the week award this season. Pinto help secure back-to-back shutouts against Oakland and James Madison.
In this week’s Top 25 poll, Marshall moved up three spots to No. 9, while West Virginia fell seven spots to No. 10. Georgia Southern moved up four spots to No. 20 while Kentucky’s victory kept the Wildcats at No. 25
To see the update Sun Belt conference standings and more news, click here.
Women’s Soccer
Going into the last week of the regular season, the Sun Belt standings in both divisions are up for grabs with multiple teams in line to win the division title. While all eight teams have clinched their spots in the conference tournament, seeds have not been finalized yet. The top two seeds will be the division winners.
Here are the projected matchups in the first round as of Oct. 20:
- No. 8 Louisiana vs No. 1 Texas State
- No. 7 Marshall vs No. 2 Georgia State
- No. 6 James Madison vs No. 3 ULM
- No. 5 Old Dominion vs No. 4 South Alabama
ULM and Texas State had the same number of points in division play. The teams went to the third tiebreaker, with Texas State outscoring ULM in common games 10 goals to eight. The Warhawks finish the season on the road against Georgia Southern and Louisiana, while the Bobcats travel to South Alabama before hosting James Madison.
James Madison, Louisiana and Marshall each had 12 points in conference play, but the Dukes defeated both the other schools. Marshall would get the No. 7 seed by virtue of goal differential in common opponents.
Louisiana’s Carson Glenn earned Offensive Player of the Week after netting the game-winner against Old Dominion. South Alabama’s Sierra Giorgio earned Defensive Player of the Week in part due to her clean sheet in a 2-0 victory over James Madison.
To see the update Sun Belt conference standings and more news, click here.
Cross Country
The Sun Belt concluded its regular season last Friday. Marshall finished in third place in both men’s and women’s races at the Bowling Green State University Falcon Invitational. Brady Dawkins led the men’s 8K race for the Thundering Herd by finishing ninth, while Hannah Wyler finished 13th in the women’s 6K.
Four teams participated in the Alabama Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with the Southern Miss women’s team being the only program to place in the top 10 with a 10th place finish.
The Sun Belt Conference Championship will be held in Foley, Alabama on Oct. 31 as teams and runners via for spots in the NCAA Regional on Nov. 14.
To see the update Sun Belt conference standings and more news, click here.
Golf
Many programs finished up their fall season on the course, with the next tournaments scheduled for the beginning of February.
Arkansas State traveled to the west coast to win the St. Mary’s (CA) Invitational with a 19-under-par score. Jake Wallis won the individual tournament with a 12-under to help the Red Wolves finish 1-2 on the scorecard. Texas State finished fourth with a 1-over score. Georgia Southern’s Connor MacMillan finished tied for ninth place in the Furman Intercollegiate Tournament, helping the Eagles to a 17-over score tied for seventh place.
South Alabama’s Daniela Palmeros won the Evie Odom Invitational with a 4-under, leading the Lady Jaguars to a fourth place finish at 24-over. In Greensboro, Georgia State’s Grace Kalina finished in fourth place with 3-over to help the Lady Panthers to a fifth place finish at 33-over.
Women’s Field Hockey
Old Dominion continued their strong run in Big East play, defeating Temple before dropping Delaware in nonconference action. The Monarchs enter the closing stretch of conference play 7-7 and 4-1 in Big East action. Serena Langendoen scored the game winner against Temple and both goals against Delaware as the defender earned Defensive Player of the Week.
Both Appalachian State and James Madison split their weekend matchups. The Mountaineers (11-4, 5-2 MAC) defeated Longwood before falling to then-No. 17 UMass 3-0 on Sunday. For the Dukes (9-7, 4-3), they fell to UMass on Friday before dispatching of Bellarmine 5-0 on Sunday.
To see the update conference standings and more news, visit the Big East page here or the MAC page here.
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