The Appalachian State Mountaineers men's soccer team was an intercollegiate

varsity sports A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

team of

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...

. The team was a member of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

History

Joining the Sun Belt

When Appalachian State announced that it would join the

in July 2014, it initially planned to keep its men's soccer and wrestling teams in the Southern Conference, since the Sun Belt then did not sponsor either sport. However, in February 2014, the Sun Belt announced it would reinstate men's soccer beginning in the 2014 season, with three full members (Appalachian State, fellow 2014 arrival Georgia Southern, and Georgia State) joined by three single-sport affiliate members (Hartwick, Howard, and NJIT).

Discontinuation of men's soccer

In May 2020, Appalachian State cut the men's soccer program due to the financial impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As a result of the men's soccer team being cut, head coach Jason O'Keefe and a soccer executive Michael Hitchcock joined up with a group of local business owners to create Appalachian FC, who play in the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

Notable alumni

* Alec Dufty * Mark Schwartz * Tony Suarez *

Thompson Usiyan Thompson Usiyan (27 April 1956 – 31 August 2021) was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. He holds the NCAA Division I career scoring record and played in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, ...

* Gregory Walters

References

{{Sun Belt Conference men's soccer navbox * 1964 establishments in North Carolina 2020 disestablishments in North Carolina Association football clubs established in 1964 Association football clubs disestablished in 2020