The 2017 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season was the 25th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference.
With their win over SIUE on October 28, the Western Michigan Broncos won their first-ever MAC regular season title. The Broncos went undefeated (5–0–0) during the regular season and did not allow a goal in conference play. Akron defeated Western Michigan, 3–1, to win the MAC tournament.
Changes from 2016 Buffalo announced the discontinuation of men's soccer and three other sports for financial reasons on April 3, 2017.
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced on June 2, 2017, that the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer and wrestling teams would become affiliate members of the MAC beginning in the 2018 season. On June 8, it was announced that the soccer team would make the move for the 2017 season.
Teams Team Location Stadium Capacity Coach Uniforms supplier Akron Zips Akron, Ohio FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field Jared Embick adidas Bowling Green Falcons Bowling Green, Ohio Cochrane Stadium Eric Nichols Nike Northern Illinois Huskies DeKalb, Illinois NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex Ryan Swan adidas SIU Edwardsville Cougars Edwardsville, Illinois Ralph Korte Stadium Mario Sanchez adidas West Virginia Mountaineers Morgantown, West Virginia Dlesk Stadium Marlon LeBlanc Nike Western Michigan Broncos Kalamazoo, Michigan WMU Soccer Complex Chad Wiseman adidas
Season outlook The MAC in the national preseason polls:
United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA) – Akron #16
College Soccer News – Akron #18, SIU Edwardsville #21
Top Drawer Soccer – Akron #13
Soccer America – Akron #13
Hero Sports – Akron #20
2017 Preseason MAC Coaches' Poll
Source=
Place SchoolPoints(1st Place votes) 1 Akron 35 (5) 2 (tie) West Virginia 21 (1) SIU Edwardsville 21 4 (tie) Bowling Green 20 Western Michigan 20 6 Northern Illinois 9
Regular season
Rankings
United Soccer Coaches National Source =
+ Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Not ranked previous weekor no change
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 FinalAkron C 16 24 rv rv — rv rv rv 19 14 10 7 4 3Bowling Green C — — rv 19 — — — — — — — — — Northern Illinois C — — — — — — — — — — — — — SIU Edwardsville C — — — — — — — — — — — — — West Virginia C — 19 14 rv rv rv — — — — — — — Western Michigan C — rv — 24 12 9 12 13 8 6 5 4 6 9
United Soccer Coaches Great Lakes Regional Source = Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Akron C 8 89 8 7 4 4 3 3 2 2 1Bowling Green C 6 4 2 5 — — — — — — — —Northern Illinois C — — — — — — — — — — — —SIU Edwardsville C — — — — — — — — — — — —West Virginia C 1 1 4 6 5 8 9 7 8 — 7 7Western Michigan C 3 7 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2
NCAA RPI Source = Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 FinalAkron 24 25 23 14 9 10 7 6Bowling Green 80 100 133 135 156 152 157 157Northern Illinois 150 166 153 164 175 167 166 169SIU Edwardsville 187 142 115 138 135 135 135 135West Virginia 62 73 47 58 57 54 55 56Western Michigan 11 9 11 6 8 8 8 9
MAC Players of the Week DatePlayer of the WeekClassPositionSchool August 29 Jad Arslan # Senior Midfielder West Virginia September 5 Anthony Mwembia Sophomore Goalkeeper Bowling Green September 12 Brandon Bye * # Senior Midfielder Western Michigan September 19 Albert Andres-Llop Sophomore Defender West Virginia September 26 Sam Gainford Senior Forward Akron October 3 Nate Shultz * # Senior Defender Akron October 10 Elijah Michaels #Jorge Gonzalez R-JuniorSophomore GoalkeeperMidfielder Western MichiganSIUE October 17 Skye Harter * # R-Sophomore Midfielder Akron October 24 Brandon Bye * #Sam Gainford # SeniorSenior MidfielderForward Western MichiganAkron October 31 Stuart Holthusen * # † Senior Forward Akron November 7 Stuart Holthusen * # Senior Forward Akron NOTES: * = Players were also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week for that week. * = Players were also named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week for that week. † = Stuart Holthusen was not only named the MAC Player of the Week. On Tuesday, October 31, he was selected as the United Soccer Coaches Division I National Player of the Week.
Postseason
MAC tournament
The 2017 MAC tournament was played November 10 and 12 on the campus of the regular season champion Western Michigan Broncos. Akron beat Western Michigan in the final 3–1,
1st seed – Western Michigan Broncos (15–2–1; 5–0–0 MAC)
2nd seed – Akron Zips (14–3–1; 4–1–0 MAC)
3rd seed – SIUE Cougars (7–9–1; 2–3–0 MAC)
4th seed – West Virginia Mountaineers (9–5–4; 1–2–2 MAC)
NCAA tournament
Seed Region School 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship 5 2 Akron Bye W, 3–0 vs. Seattle (Akron) W, 3–2(OT) vs. Wisconsin (Akron)D 0–0 (PK 4–3) vs. Louisville (Louisville)L, 0–2 vs. Stanford (Chester, PA) — 10 4 Western Michigan Bye W, 2–0 vs. Albany (Kalamazoo)L, 1–2 vs. Michigan State (East Lansing) — — —
2018 MLS SuperDraft
Round Pick # MLS team Player Position College Other 1 1 Los Angeles FC João Moutinho DF Akron Generation adidas 1 8 New England Revolution Brandon Bye DF Western Michigan 2 31 New York Red Bulls Niko de Vera DF Akron 2 46 Toronto FC Drew Shepherd GK Western Michigan 3 48 LA Galaxy Nate Schulz DF Akron 3 64 Portland Timbers Stuart Holthusen F Akron
Honors
2017 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's All-American teams Source:
Player School Position Class Hometown First Team João MoutinhoAkron Defender Freshman Lisbon, Portugal Brandon ByeWestern Michigan Forward Senior Portage, Mich Second Team Drew ShepardWestern Michigan Goalkeeper Senior Ann Arbor, Michigan
2017 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's All-Great Lakes Region teams Source:
Player School Position Class Hometown First Team Zach BockWestern Michigan Defender Seniorr Novi, Michigan João MoutinhoAkron Defender Freshman Lisbon, Portugal Brandon ByeWestern Michigan Forward Senior Portage, Mich Second Team Drew ShepardWestern Michigan Goalkeeper Senior Ann Arbor, Michigan Nate ShultzAkron Defender Senior Mayfield, Ohio Sam GainfordAkron Forward Senior Liverpool, England Stuart HolthusenAkron Forward Senior Auckland, New Zealand Third Team Tommy ClarkWestern Michigan Midfielder Junior South Bend, Indiana
2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America teams Source:
Second team Zach Bock, Western Michigan University, Senior, 3.98 GPA, Sales & Business Marketing
Third team Brandon Bye, Western Michigan University, Senior, 3.74 GPA, Food & Consumer Packaging Goods Marketing
2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District teams Source:
Only All-District players are eligible for the Academic All-America ballot.
District 2 (DC, DE, KY, MD, NJ, PA, WV) Stephen Banick, West Virginia University, Junior, 3.71 GPA, Mathematics
Ryan Kellogg, West Virginia University, Sophomore, 3.87 GPA. Finance
District 5 (IL, IN, MI, OH) Drew Shepherd, Western Michigan University, Senior. 3.32 GPA, Aviation Flight Science
Zach Bock, Western Michigan University, Senior, 3.98 GPA, Sales & Business Marketing
Brandon Bye, Western Michigan University, Senior, 3.74 GPA, Food & Consumer Packaging Goods Marketing
2017 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's Scholar All-America teams Source: Position Name Class School Major GPA Hometown First TeamGoalkeeper Drew Shepherd Senior Western Michigan Aviation Flight Science 3.37 Ann Arbor, MichiganForward Brandon Bye ♦ Senior Western Michigan Food Marketing and Supply Chain Management 3.76 Portage, Michigan Second TeamDefender Zach Bock Senior Western Michigan Sales and Business Marketing 3.98 Novi, Michigan ♦ = Additionally, the United Soccer Coaches named Western Michigan's Brandon Bye as the 1017 NCAA Men's Soccer Division I Scholar Player of the Year. .
United Soccer Coaches 2017 College Team Academic Award Source:
The United Soccer Coaches (formerly the NSCAA) annually recognizes college and high school soccer programs that have excelled in the classroom by posting a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Five of the MAC's six teams were honored this year. The schools, their head coaches, and their team GPAs are:
University of Akron, Jared Embick, 3.09 Bowling Green State University, Eric Nichols, 3.13 Northern Illinois University, Ryan Swan, 3.23 West Virginia University, Marlon LeBlanc, 3.28 Western Michigan University, Chad Wiseman, 3.34
2017 MAC awards Source= 2016 MAC Men's Soccer Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Player of the YearBrandon Bye, Forward, Western MichiganFreshman of the YearJoão Moutinho, Defender, AkronGary V. Palmisano Coach of the YearChad Wiseman, Western Michigan
2017 MAC All-Conference First Team
Player School Position Class Hometown (high school/previous college) Jad Arslan West Virginia Midfielder Senior Roswell, Georgia (Roswell) Zach Bock Western Michigan Defender Senior Novi, Michigan (Detroit Catholic Central) Brandon Bye Western Michigan Forward Senior Portage, Michigan (Portage Northern) Tommy Clark Western Michigan Midfielder R-Junior South Bend, Indiana (Saint Joseph/Bradley) Manuel Cordeiro Akron Midfielder R-Senior Porto, Portugal (Garcia de Orta) Sam Gainford Akron Forward R-Senior Liverpool, England (n/a) Nick Hinds Akron Midfielder Sophpmore Plantation, Florida (Roosevelt) Stuart Holthusen Akron Forward Senior Auckland, New Zealand (n/a) Devyn Jambga SIUE Forward R-Senior Harare, Zimbabwe (Harare International) Jay McIntosh Western Michigan Forward Senior Kalamazoo, Michigan (Loy Norrix/Indiana) João Moutinho Akron Defender Freshman Lisbon, Portugal (Liceu Camões) Drew Shepherd Western Michigan Goalkeeper R-Senior Ann Arbor, Michigan (Huron)
2017 MAC All-Conference Second Team
Player School Position Class Hometown (high school/previous college) Pau Belana Akron Midfielder R-Senior Barcelona, Catalonia (Turbula/Universitat de Barcelona) Chris Brennan Bowling Green Forward Senior Copley, Ohio (Copley) Johan DePicker SIUE Defender Junior Brussels, Belgium (Ocean Lakes, VA/Old Dominion) Niko De Vera Akron Defender Senior Camas, Washington (Camas) Jorge Gonzalez SIUE Midfielder Sophomore Valencia, Spain (Cumbres School/Mercyhurst) Steven James West Virginia Defender Senior Sussex, England (Heathfield CC/Louisburg) Kosti Moni Western Michigan Midfielder Junior Grand Rapids, Michigan (Forest Hills Eastern/UC Santa Barbara) Jake Rufe Western Michigan Midfielder R-Junior Huntsville, Alabama (Grissom/Indiana) Nate Shultz Akron Defender Senior Mayfield, Ohio (Mayfield) Alexis Souahy Bowling Green Defender Senior Saint Etienne au Mont, France (Saint Joseph/Notre Dame Coll.) Ben Thornton Western Michigan Defender Junior Linden, Michigan (Linden/IUPUI)
2017 MAC All-Freshman Team
Player School Position Hometown (high school)
2017 MAC All-Tournament Team Source=
2017 Mid-American Conference Men's Soccer Tournament MVP— Stuart Holthusen (Akron)
Player School Class Position Hometown Stuart Holthusen Akron Senior Forward Auckland, New Zealand Manuel Cordeiro Akron Senior Midfielder Porto, Portugal João Moutinho Akron Freshman Defender Lisbon, Portugal Sam Gainford Akron Senior Forward Liverpool, England Giuseppe Vitale Western Michigan Sophomore Midfielder Washington Township, Michigan Anthony Bowie Western Michigan Sophomore Midfielder Grand Rapids, Michigan Connor McNulty Western Michigan Junior Midfielder Orland Park, Illinois Johan DePicker SIUE Junior Defender Brussels, Belgium Devyn Jambga SIUE Senior Forward Harare, Zimbabwe Louis Thomas West Virginia Senior Defender Houston, Texas Pascal Derwaritsch West Virginia Sophomore Defender Altlussheim, Germany
2017 MAC Men's Soccer Academic All-MAC Team Source= The criteria for the All-MAC honor parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.00 scale).