WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Ahead of the 2020 North Region Men's Soccer Tournament, here's a closer look at the round-robin format for the weekend. The winner of the round-robin will earn the title of North Region Champion and will advance to the 2020 NCCAA DII National Tournament held in Kissimmee, Florida November 17-21.

SCHEDULE

In a round-robin format, every team plays each other, and the overall winner advances. In a three-team tournament like this year, that means one game per day as follows:

The format guarantees that all three teams play two games each, eliminating the traditional semifinal/final (or single-elimination) format and seeding process, which would be difficult to objectify during a 2020 season filled with scheduling difficulties.

FORMAT

Teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero for a loss. The team that has the most points at the end of the weekend will advance to NCCAA Nationals.

In the event of a tie in total points at the end of the tournament, the following will be used as tie-breakers, in this order:

1) Tournament goal difference

Goal difference is a simple equation of goals scored minus goals allowed. There is no floor or ceiling on the goal differential for each game, so a 6-0 win results in a +6 goal difference for the winner and a -6 goal difference for the loser.

2) Tournament goals against

This is cumulative. If the head-to-head results between the tied teams is itself a tie, and the two teams won their other game by the same margin, the team with fewer goals allowed wins the region.

3) Tournament goals scored

This is also cumulative. Each team combines its two-game total for goals scored.

4) Tournament shutouts

A shutout is when you prevent your opponent from scoring a goal in a game. If the tournament is decided by the fifth tiebreaker, the team with more shutouts wins the region.

5) Power Rating

The final tiebreaker applies to Maranatha and Faith only. If a winner can't be decided in tiebreakers 1-5, then the team with the highest power rating wins the region. Since Moody did not participate during the regular season, the final tiebreaker - should it apply to Moody - eliminates them from the tournament automatically.

-

The tournament begins this afternoon with a Maranatha-Faith matchup at 2:00 p.m. To follow, visit the links below.

LINKS

SCHEDULE :: LIVE VIDEO :: LIVE STATS :: TICKETS :: SPECTATOR POLICY/COVID-19