The 2017 ASUN Conference men's soccer season was the 40th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The regular season began on August 25, 2017 and ended on October 28, 2017. The regular season culminated with the 2017 ASUN Men's Soccer Tournament, which was held from November 3–11, 2017. The tournament determined the conference's tournament champion, and automatic berth into the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament.

Newly appointed head coach, Kyle Gookins lead the Stetson Hatters to their first Atlantic Sun regular season championship, accumulating a 4-0-2 record. The Hatters edged out traditional ASUN power Florida Gulf Coast for the title. In the tournament, Lipscomb earned their first ASUN championship, and thus, their first berth into the NCAA Tournament. There, they lost in the first round to Butler.

Background

Ahead of the 2017 season, there were two head coaching changes. Jesse Cormier, formerly Vermont's head coach, took the head coaching role at Florida Gulf Coast. This came following Bob Butehorn's departure from FGCU, to coach South Florida. Kyle Gookins, formerly an assistant coach for Charlotte, took the head coaching position at Stetson. This was following Jared Vock stepping down as the caretaker manager for Stetson.

Head coaches

Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record Record at school A-Sun record NCAATournaments NCAACollege Cups NCAATitlesFlorida Gulf Coast Jesse Cormier Vermont 1 3 0 0 Jacksonville Mauricio Ruiz UCF (asst.) 4 0 0 0 Lipscomb Charles Morrow Belmont Abbey 14 1 0 0 NJIT Fernando Barboto Iona 2 0 0 0 North Florida Derek Marinatos Furman (asst.) 7 1 0 0 Stetson Kyle Gookins Charlotte (asst.) 1 0 0 0 USC Upstate Scott Halkett USC Upstate (asst.) 1 0 0 0

Preseason

Recruiting

+ National Rankings Team CSN TDSFlorida Gulf Coast NR NR Jacksonville NR NR Lipscomb NR NR NJIT NR NR North Florida NR NR Stetson NR NR USC Upstate NR NR

Preseason poll

The preseason poll had Florida Gulf Coast winning the regular season, just ahead of North Florida and Lipscomb.

Team ranking First place votes Raw points 1. Florida Gulf Coast (5) 43 2. North Florida 0 36 3. Lipscomb 0 35 4. Jacksonville 2 34 5. NJIT 0 22 6. Stetson 0 18 7. USC Upsate 0 8

Regular season Results

Team/Opponent FGCJAXLIPNJTUNFSTEUSC Florida Gulf Coast 1–0 2–0 5–0 Jacksonville 1–2 0–0 3–1 Lipscomb 1–3 0–1 1–0 NJIT 4–1 1–1 2–1 North Florida 1–2 0–1 2–1 Stetson 1–1 2–1 2–1 USC Upstate 2–1 0–4 0–2

Rankings

United Soccer Coaches National + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 FinalFlorida Gulf Coast C 23 NR Jacksonville C Lipscomb C NJIT C North Florida C Stetson C USC Upstate C

Postseason A-Sun Tournament

NCAA Tournament

Seed Region School 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Winston-Salem LipscombL, 0–2 vs. Butler – (Indianapolis)

Awards Regular season awards Postseason awards All-ASun awards and teams

2017 ASUN Men's Soccer Individual Awards Award Recipient(s) ASUN Player of the Year Mamadou Guirassy, NJIT ASUN Defensive Player of the Year Nicolas Samayoa, FGCU ASUN Coach of the Year Kyle Gookins, Stetson ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year Joseph Melong, Stetson ASUN Freshman of the Year Deniz Dogan, Stetson

ASUN First Team

Player Nat. School Position Class Hometown (High school/Previous college/Previous club) Joseph Melong Stetson GK Jr. Winnipeg, Manitoba (Temple University) Nicolas Samayoa Florida Gulf Coast DF Sr. Guatemala City, Guatemala (Valle Verde High School) Joe Kerridge Lipscomb DF Sr. Golden, Colorado (Golden High School) Ian McCauley Stetson DF Jr. Seffner, Florida (IMG Academy) Ivan Alvarado Lipscomb MF Sr. Fort Worth, Texas (Southwest High School) Adrian Núñez North Florida MF So. San José, Costa Rica (Saprissa U20) Deniz Dogan Stetson MF Fr. Aachen, Germany (Fortuna Düsseldorf U19) Mamadou Guirassy NJIT FW Sr. Paris, France (Issy U17) Shak Adams Florida Gulf Coast FW So. Antioch, Tennessee (Tennessee SC U18) Albert Ruiz Florida Gulf Coast FW Sr. Barcelona, Catalonia (Cornellà U19) Logan Paynter Lipscomb FW Jr. Bradenton, Florida (Manatee High School)

ASUN Second-Team

Player Nat. School Position Class Hometown (High school/Previous college/Previous club) Juanes Fajardo North Florida GK Sr. Winter Garden, Florida Preston Kilwien Florida Gulf Coast DF Jr. San Francisco, California Phillip Costa NJIT DF Jr. Kenilworth, New Jersey Micah Smoak North Florida DF Sr. Melbourne, Florida Kai Bennett Jacksonville MF So. Smyrna, Georgia Robert Ferrer Florida Gulf Coast MF Sr. Barcelona, Spain Dennis Zapata Florida Gulf Coast MF Jr. Orlando, Florida Danny Cordeiro NJIT MF Sr. North Arlington, New Jersey Dylan Sacramento Florida Gulf Coast FW Sr. Winnipeg, Manitoba Josh Castellanos North Florida FW Sr. Ponte Vedra, Florida Ivan Sakou Lipscomb FW Sr. Yaoundé, Cameroon

All-Americans No players from the ASUN Conference earned All-American honors.

MLS SuperDraft

Total picks by school

TeamRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4TotalFlorida Gulf Coast 0 0 0 1 1Jacksonville 0 0 0 0 0Lipscomb 0 0 0 0 0NJIT 0 0 0 1 1North Florida 0 0 0 0 0Stetson 0 0 0 0 0USC Upstate 0 0 0 0 0

List of selections

Round Pick # MLS team Player Position College Ref. 4 78 New England Revolution Nicolas Samayoa DF Florida Gulf Coast 4 87 Portland Timbers Mamadou Guirassy FW NJIT

Homegrown contracts

No ASUN players signed homegrown contracts with their parent MLS club.

See also 2017 NCAA Division I men's soccer season 2017 Atlantic Sun Conference women's soccer season

References