CAA Men's Soccer Championship Begins Thursday with First Round Action
Miles McQuiggan
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 1, 2023) – Hofstra and Monmouth will host the opening weekend of the 2023 CAA Men's Soccer Championship, which begins Thursday with a pair of neutral-site first round games at those sites.
Fourth-seeded Delaware will take on No. 5 seed Drexel on Long Island at 4 p.m., while No. 3 seed Stony Brook faces No. 6 seed Elon at 6 p.m. in New Jersey. Both matches can be seen on FloFC.
Hofstra and Monmouth tied atop the table with 17 points in the regular season that concluded Saturday; the Pride’s head-to-head win over the Hawks in October earns the back-to-back defending CAA Champions the top seed. Hofstra is the No. 1 seed for the second time in three years and the tournament will run through Hempstead for the second in three. Hofstra is No. 17 in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll; the Pride's
Eliot Goldthorp was named CAA Player of the Year on Wednesday, earning Hofstra the honor for the second-consecutive year.
Monmouth qualifies for its first CAA Championship after joining the league last year; the Hawks blanked Campbell on the final day of the season to host an opening weekend pod. The Hawks went 8-3-5 overall in the regular season. Monmouth joined Hofstra with three All-CAA First Team honorees.
Stony Brook will play in its first CAA Championship and take on Elon on Thursday night in New Jersey. The Seawolves finished third in the league with 15 points and opened CAA play 4-0-2, earning a result against both teams to play in last year’s title game. Stony Brook, which was picked 11th of 11 in the CAA preseason poll, was recognized for its regular season performance Wednesday with
Ryan Anatol being named Coach of the Year.
Elon was a 1-0 winner on Saturday on a
Scott Vatne goal to get in on the season’s final day, rebounding from an 0-3-2 start to league play to defeat Campbell, Charleston, and UNCW to close their CAA schedule and return to postseason play after being the top seed a year ago. Stony Brook defeated Elon, 4-0, in the teams’ CAA openers on Labor Day weekend.
Delaware and Drexel tied for fourth with the Blue Hens earning the formality of home kits in the opening round by virtue of the Blue Hens’ victory over Hofstra in October. Both teams went 3-2-3 in the regular season with two of the league’s three best overall records this fall; Drexel enters the Championship at a league-best 9-2-4, while Delaware was 9-3-5 in the regular season. The teams tied, 3-3, in their regular season meeting. Both teams received a regular season major award Wednesday with Drexel's
Youri Senden selected as Defensive Player of the Year and Delaware's
Richard Monath tabbed as Rookie of the Year; the two sides also combined for five of the 10 CAA All-Rookie selections.
The Stony Brook/Elon winner will move on to face Monmouth on Sunday at 1 p.m.; Hofstra will host the winner of Delaware and Drexel on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The highest remaining seed will host the title game of the 2023 CAA Men’s Soccer Championship on Saturday, Nov. 11 or Sunday, Nov. 12. The date and time of that contest will be set following the semifinal round.
Both of Thursday’s contests – and all five of the championship – can be seen on FloFC.
CAA Men’s Soccer Championship
Thursday, Nov. 2 – Hempstead, N.Y.
No. 4 Delaware vs No. 5 Drexel – 4 p.m., FloFC
Thursday, Nov. 2 – West Long Branch, N.J.
No. 3 Stony Brook vs No. 6 Elon – 6 p.m., FloFC
Sunday, Nov. 5 – Hempstead, N.Y.
Winner of Delaware/Drexel game at No. 1 Hofstra – 2 p.m., FloFC
Sunday, Nov. 5 – West Long Branch, N.J.
Winner of Stony Brook/Elon game at No. 2 Monmouth – 1 p.m., FloFC
Saturday, Nov. 11 or Sunday, Nov. 12 – Highest Remaining Seed
Championship Final – Time TBD, FloFC
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