2020 ACC men's soccer tournament

The 2020 ACC men's soccer tournament was the 34th edition of the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament decided the Atlantic Coast Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. The final will be played at Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, North Carolina.^[1][2]

2020 ACC men's soccer tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	8
Matches	7
Attendance	677
Site	Sahlen's Stadium Cary, North Carolina
Champions	Clemson (4th title)
Winning coach	Mike Noonan (2nd title)
MVP	Kimarni Smith (Clemson)
Broadcast	ESPNU (Final), ACC Network Extra (all other rounds)
ACC men's soccer tournament «2019  2021»

2020 ACC men's fall soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
North
No. 2 Pittsburgh	4	–	0	–	0			7	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Virginia Tech	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
Notre Dame	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Virginia	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	4	–	1
Louisville	1	–	4	–	1			1	–	6	–	1
Syracuse	0	–	3	–	2			0	–	3	–	2
South
No. 3 Wake Forest	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
North Carolina	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
No. 1 Clemson‡	3	–	2	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
Duke	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
NC State	0	–	5	–	1			0	–	6	–	1
Boston College†	0	–	0	–	0			0	–	0	–	0
‡ – 2020 ACC Tournament champion As of March 9, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC Note: † Due to COVID-19, Boston College suspended the Fall 2020 men's soccer season; begins play in March.

Background

Further information: 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference men's soccer season and Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football

The format of the tournament was announced in conjunction with all other ACC fall sports on July 29, 2020.^[3]

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the format of the 2020 tournament changed multiple times. Originally, the 2020 ACC Tournament was to only feature 4 teams with all matches played at Sahlen's Stadium to create an "isolation zone" (similar to the 2020 NBA Bubble) to minimize the spread of the pandemic. The semifinals were to be played on November 13, 2020, with the final was to be played on November 15, 2020.^[4]

On September 4, 2020, the format again changed, expanding the tournament from four to eight teams. The quarterfinals to be played on November 15, the semifinals on November 18, and the championship game on November 22.^[1]

Qualification

Main article: 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference men's soccer season

Due to the aforementioned COVID-19 pandemic, only eleven teams participated in the regular season, with Boston College electing to not play. The teams were also divided into a North and South region as opposed to the normal Atlantic and Coastal Divisions. Eight teams qualified for the tournament, the top four teams in each region. In the tournament, teams were paired against the opposite region in the bracket. Higher seeds hosted the quarterfinals and semifinals.^[5]

South Region

Finish	Team	Conference Record
1	Wake Forest	5–1–0
2	North Carolina	3–1–2
3	Clemson	3–2–1
4	Duke	2–4–0
5	NC State	0–5–1

North Region

Finish	Team	Conference Record
1	Pittsburgh	4–0–0
2	Virginia Tech	3–1–2
3	Notre Dame	3–2–0
4	Virginia	2–3–1
5	Louisville	1–4–1
6	Syracuse	0–3–2

Fall tournament

Quarterfinals November 15

Semifinals November 18

Final November 22

N1

Pittsburgh

2

S4

Duke

1

N1

Pittsburgh

3

N3

Notre Dame

1

S2

North Carolina

0

N3

Notre Dame

1OT

N1

Pittsburgh

1

S3

Clemson

2

S1

Wake Forest

0

N4

Virginia

2

N4

Virginia

1

S3

Clemson

2

N2

Virginia Tech

1

S3

Clemson

4

Quarterfinals

Virginia Tech	1–4	Clemson
Daniel Pereira  59' Jacob Labovitz  66' Kristo Strickler 70'	Report	15', 30', 33' Kimarni Smith 55' James Brighton  60' Charlie Asensio

November 15, 2020 (2020-11-15)

Noon

Koskinen Stadium, Durham, NC

Attendance: 0

Referee: Mike Stutt

---

North Carolina	0–1 (a.e.t.) OT	Notre Dame
	Report	35' Mohamed Omar  38' Mohammad Abualnadi 99' Aiden McFadden

November 15, 2020 (2020-11-15)

2:00 p.m.

Dorrance Field, Chapel Hill, NC

Attendance: 0

Referee: John McCloskey

---

Wake Forest	0–2	Virginia
	Report	30', 51',  45' Cabrel Happi Kamseu  75' Jeremy Verley  78' Andreas Ueland  88' Kevin Ogudugu

November 15, 2020 (2020-11-15)

4:00 p.m.

Spry Stadium, Winston–Salem, NC

Attendance: 100

Referee: David Erbacher

---

Pittsburgh	2–1	Duke
Jackson Walti 33' Valentin Noël 61',  61'	Report	7' Antonio Lopez  13'  90' Matthias Frick  43', 58' Stephen O'Connell  55' Scotty Taylor

November 15, 2020 (2020-11-15)

6:00 p.m.

Dail Soccer Field, Raleigh, NC

Attendance: 77

Referee: Sorin Stoica

Semifinals

Clemson	2–1	Virginia
Kimarni Smith 22' Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador 86' (pen.),  86'	Report	77' Jeremy Verley 84' Axel Gunnarsson  86' Colin Shutler

November 18, 2020 (2020-11-18)

6:00 p.m.

Dorrance Field, Chapel Hill, NC

Attendance: 50

Referee: John Brady

---

Pittsburgh	3–1	Notre Dame
Veljko Petkovic 20', 43' Jackson Walti  28' Valentin Noël 33'	Report	62' Aiden McFadden  63' Philip Quinton 86' (pen.) Jack Lynn

November 18, 2020 (2020-11-18)

8:00 p.m.

Dail Soccer Field, Raleigh, NC

Attendance: 100

Referee: Carmen Serbio

Final

Pittsburgh	1–2	Clemson
Raphael Crivello  38' Valentin Noël 47' Filip Mirkovic  48' Anass Amrani  87'	Report	13' Mohamed Seye 71' James Brighton  83' John Martin  84' Kimarni Smith

November 22, 2020 (2020-11-22)

12:00 pm

WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, NC

Attendance: 350

Referee: Nikola Aleksic

Spring Tournament

The ACC played a six-game conference schedule in the spring. The division winners, along with the fall tournament winners, Clemson, played for the ACC's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament. As a result of Clemson winning the Atlantic division in the spring, Pittsburgh and Clemson played one game to determine the conference's automatic qualifier.

	Semifinal					Final
						1	Clemson	2
	2	Clemson	-				Pittsburgh	0
	3	Pittsburgh	-

Semifinal

Clemson	x–x	Pittsburgh

April 13, 2021

Final

Clemson	2–0	Pittsburgh
Quinn McNeill 16',  83' Isaiah Reid 82',  87'	Report	78' Raphael Crivello  80' Luke Mort

April 17, 2021

7:00 p.m.

NCAA Play-In Final

Riggs Field, Clemson, SC

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: David Erbacher

Statistics

Goalscorers

4 Goals

• Kimarni Smith – Clemson

3 Goals

• Valentin Noël – Pittsburgh

2 Goals

• James Brighton – Clemson
• Cabrel Happi Kamseu – Virginia
• Veljko Petković – Pittsburgh

1 Goal

• Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador – Clemson
• Axel Gunnarsson – Virginia
• Jack Lynn – Notre Dame
• Aiden McFadden – Notre Dame
• Stephen O'Connell – Duke
• Mohamed Seye – Clemson
• Kristo Strickler – Virginia Tech
• Jackson Walti – Pittsburgh

All-Tournament team

Player	Team
2020 ACC Men's Soccer All-Tournament team[6]
Kimarni Smith	Clemson
Justin Malou
Grayson Barber
Philip Mayaka
Nico Campuzano	Pitt
Valentin Noël
Veljko Petković
Mohamed Omar	Notre Dame
Jack Lynn
Andreas Ueland	Virginia
Bret Halsey

MVP in Bold

References

1. "ACC Announces Fall Olympic Sports Schedules". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. September 4, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
2. "2020 ACC Men's Soccer Championship". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
3. Clark, Travis (July 30, 2020). "ACC announces fall soccer plans". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
4. "ACC Announces Plans for Football and Fall Olympic Sports". TheACC.com. July 29, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
5. "Wake Forest, Pitt Pick Up Top Seeds for 2020 ACC Men's Soccer Championship". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
6. "Clemson Downs Pitt, 2-1, to Win ACC Men's Soccer Championship". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. November 22, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2020.