NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Sun Belt Conference has announced seeding for the upcoming soccer championships to be hosted by the University of South Alabama, which will begin Wednesday and run through Sunday.
 
Florida International, Middle Tennessee and North Texas were each crowned 2012 SBC regular season champions last Friday after each team finished the year with 25 points. It marked the first time in the league's brief 12-year history that the SBC has crowned tri-champions.
 
North Texas earned the tournament's top seed by winning the three-team tiebreaker over Middle Tennessee and FIU.
 
The Mean Green tied FIU and defeated MT giving NT four points, while MT defeated FIU and loss to NT for three points. FIU earned one point for tying with NT. Thus, the Mean Green are the top seed in the tournament and will take on eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
 
South Alabama is the seventh seed and will face the No. 2 seed Blue Raiders at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, having had the opportunity as the tournament’s host to choose its quarterfinal match time.
 
FIU will face sixth-seed Troy at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, while Western Kentucky will be seeded fourth and will face fifth-seeded Arkansas State on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
 
Action will take a break on Thursday and will resume on Friday with the first of two semifinal matches beginning at 4 p.m. The tournament’s championship match will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m., allowing each team another day of rest after the semifinals.

All games can be viewed live on www.sunbeltsports.org. The web stream for the entire tournament is provided at no charge.

2012 Sun Belt Conference Soccer Tournament Seeds
No. 1 North Texas (13-4-2, 8-1-1 [.850] SBC)
No. 2 Middle Tennessee (13-4-1, 8-1-1 [.850] SBC)
No. 3 FIU (11-5-2, 8-1-1 [.850] SBC)
No. 4 WKU (11-4-3, 6-1-3 [.750] SBC)
No. 5 ASU (11-7-1, 5-4-1 [.550] SBC)
No. 6 TROY (9-9-2, 4-5-1 [.450] SBC)
No. 7 USA (8-9-3, 3-5-2 [.400] SBC)
No. 8 FAU (5-12, 3-7 [.300] SBC)


2012 Sun Belt Conference Soccer Tournament Schedule of Events

Wednesday, October 31
MATCH 1 - 10 a.m. CT – No. 1 North Texas vs. No. 8 Florida Atlantic
MATCH 2 - 1 p.m. CT – No. 4 Western Kentucky vs. No. 5 Arkansas State
MATCH 3 - 4 p.m. CT – No. 3 FIU vs. No. 6 Troy
MATCH 4 - 7 p.m. CT – No. 2 Middle Tennessee at No. 7 South Alabama *

Friday, November 2
MATCH 5 - 4 p.m. CT - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
MATCH 6 - 7 p.m. CT - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner

Championship Sunday, November 4
MATCH 7 - 1 p.m. CT - Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner
All times central

* - South Alabama, as tournament host, reserved the right to choose the game time of their first-round game only and the Jaguars chose to play at 7 p.m.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).