CAA Men's Soccer Championship Begins Thursday with First Round Games in North Carolina

CAA Men's Soccer Championship Begins Thursday with First Round Games in North Carolina

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Miles McQuiggan

RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 2, 2022) – Hofstra will face William & Mary and Northeastern will take on Drexel Thursday in the First Round of the 2022 CAA Men’s Soccer Championship at two sites in North Carolina.
 
The Pride and Tribe will square off at 6 p.m. in Wilmington, while the Huskies and Dragons will meet in Elon at 7 p.m., with both games available on FloFC.

 
Hofstra and William & Mary will meet Thursday in Wilmington after a scoreless draw in their regular season meeting. The Pride is in for the 11th straight season; the Tribe, which qualified with a late goal on the season’s final day to get past Monmouth, returns to postseason play after a stretch of four straight CAA Championship appearances from 2016-19.
 
The Pride’s Ryan Carmichael was named CAA Player of the Year on Wednesday; he and teammate Eliot Goldthorp are the CAA’s top two scorers this fall. The Tribe holds a victory over a top-10 Wake Forest side in the regular season and is into the tournament field for the 26th time.
 
The winner of the Hofstra/William & Mary contest will draw UNCW in a Sunday semifinal (2 p.m., FloFC). UNCW bounced back from having a run of nine straight CAA Championship appearances snapped last season by surging to the No. 2 seed in this year’s tournament. The Seahawks went 5-1-3 in league play and have earned a win or draw in 11 of their last 13 contests dating back to the start of September with eight of their nine shutouts on the year.  

 
Northeastern’s 3-0 win at Delaware on Saturday leapfrogged the Huskies into the No. 4 seed at 13 points, where the Huskies will face Drexel in the 4/5 game Thursday at Elon (7 p.m, FloFC). The teams played to a 1-1 draw in September in Brookline. The Huskies are in the tournament field for the fourth time in the last five years; the Dragons have qualified in three straight seasons for the first time since joining the CAA.
 
Northeastern has played 16 of its 17 games this season to either a draw or one-goal margin; the Huskies’ first contest decided by multiple goals this fall came Saturday at Delaware. Drexel, on the other hand, has played eight of 16 matches to multi-goal decisions, including three of its victories coming by three goals or more.
 
The winner will draw regular season champion Elon on Sunday at Rudd Field (1 p.m., FloFC). Elon’s 20 points earned the Phoenix its first outright CAA regular season title after sharing the honor in 2015. The Phoenix went 6-1-2 in CAA play and posted 10 shutouts in total in the regular season. Elon is 6-1-3 in its last 10 overall contests, which includes a victory over North Carolina. The Phoenix, which is in the tournament in back-to-back years, collected two of four CAA major awards this season with Vemund Hole Vik honored as Defensive Player of the Year and Marc Reeves unanimously selected as Coach of the Year.
 
 
The two teams left standing after semifinal play will meet for the CAA title on November 12 at the highest remaining seed. All five games of the Championship can be seen on FloFC.
 
CAA Men’s Soccer Championship 

Thursday, Nov. 3 – Wilmington, N.C.
No. 6 William & Mary vs. No. 3 Hofstra – 6 p.m., FloFC
 
Thursday, Nov. 3 – Elon, N.C.
No. 5 Drexel vs. No. 4 Northeastern – 7 p.m., FloFC
 
Sunday, Nov. 6 – Elon, N.C.
Northeastern/Drexel at No. 1 Elon – 1 p.m., FloFC
 
Sunday, Nov. 6 – Wilmington, N.C.
Hofstra/William & Mary at No. 2 UNCW – 2 p.m., FloFC
 
Saturday, Nov. 12 – Highest Remaining Seed
Championship Final – Time TBD, FloFC
 
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