2017 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season

Mid-American Conference
Season2017
ChampionsWestern Michigan
MAC Tourney WinnerAkron
NCAA tournamentAkron, Western Michigan
Matches played91
Goals scored154 (1.69 per match)
Top goalscorer12 goals
Brandon Bye (WMU)
Biggest home winWMU 5–0 Stetson
(08/27)
Akron 5–0 UMass Lowell
(09/24)
Biggest away winWMU 5–0 @ NIU
(10/14)
Highest scoringSacramento State 4–3 NIU @ Utah Valley
(09/16)
Longest winning run10 games
Akron
(since 10/10)
Longest unbeaten run10 games
Akron
(10/10–current)
Western Michigan
(08/2–09/29)
Longest winless run7 games
Northern Illinois
(09/17–current)
Longest losing run4 games
Bowling Green
(09/13–09/27)
Northern Illinois
(09/17–10/03 & 10/14–current)
Highest attendance4,351
Akron @ Utah Valley
(08/25)
Lowest attendance0
West Virginia @ Cal
(08/25)
(probably incorrect)
Average attendance801
(probably incorrect)
← 2016
2018 →
All statistics correct as of November 14, 2017.
2017 Mid-American Conference men's soccer standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 9 Western Michigan + 5 – 0 – 0 17 – 4 – 1
No. 3 Akron ‡ 4 – 1 – 0 18 – 4 – 2
SIU Edwardsville 2 – 3 – 0 7 – 10 – 1
West Virginia 1 – 2 – 2 9 – 6 – 4
Bowling Green 1 – 3 – 1 7 – 9 – 1
Northern Illinois 0 – 4 – 1 3 – 11 – 1
As of December 13, 2017
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches

The 2017 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season was the 25th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference.[1]

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.[2]

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.[3] On June 8, it was announced that the soccer team would make the move for the 2017 season.[4]

Teams

Team Location Stadium Capacity Coach Uniforms supplier
Akron Zips Akron, Ohio FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field 4,000 United States Jared Embick Germany adidas
Bowling Green Falcons Bowling Green, Ohio Cochrane Stadium 1,000 United States Eric Nichols United States Nike
Northern Illinois Huskies DeKalb, Illinois NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex 1,500 Scotland Ryan Swan Germany adidas
SIU Edwardsville Cougars Edwardsville, Illinois Ralph Korte Stadium 4,000 United States Mario Sanchez Germany adidas
West Virginia Mountaineers Morgantown, West Virginia Dlesk Stadium 1,600 United States Marlon LeBlanc United States Nike
Western Michigan Broncos Kalamazoo, Michigan WMU Soccer Complex 500 United States Chad Wiseman Germany adidas

Season outlook

The MAC in the national preseason polls:

United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA)[5] – Akron #16

College Soccer News[6] – Akron #18, SIU Edwardsville #21

Top Drawer Soccer[7] – Akron #13

Soccer America[8] – Akron #13

Hero Sports[9] – Akron #20

2017 Preseason MAC Coaches' Poll

Source= [10]

Place School Points
(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 = [11]

Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
or no change
Main article: List of NCAA Division I men's soccer teams ranked in the 2017 Top 25 coaches poll
  Pre Wk
1		 Wk
2		 Wk
3		 Wk
4		 Wk
5		 Wk
6		 Wk
7		 Wk
8		 Wk
9		 Wk
10		 Wk
11		 Wk
12		 Final
Akron C 16 24 rv rv — rv rv rv 19 14 10 7 4 3
Bowling 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 = [11]

  Wk
1		 Wk
2		 Wk
3		 Wk
4		 Wk
5		 Wk
6		 Wk
7		 Wk
8		 Wk
9		 Wk
10		 Wk
11		 Wk
12
Akron C 8 8 9 8 7 4 4 3 3 2 2 1
Bowling 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 7
Western Michigan C 3 7 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2

NCAA RPI

Source = [12]

  Wk
6		 Wk
7		 Wk
8		 Wk
9		 Wk
10		 Wk
11		 Wk
12		 Final
Akron 24 25 23 14 9 10 7 6
Bowling Green 80 100 133 135 156 152 157 157
Northern Illinois 150 166 153 164 175 167 166 169
SIU Edwardsville 187 142 115 138 135 135 135 135
West Virginia 62 73 47 58 57 54 55 56
Western Michigan 11 9 11 6 8 8 8 9

MAC Players of the Week

Date Player of the Week Class Position School
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-Junior
Sophomore 		Goalkeeper
Midfielder 		Western Michigan
SIUE
October 17 Skye Harter * # R-Sophomore Midfielder Akron
October 24 Brandon Bye * #
Sam Gainford # 		Senior
Senior 		Midfielder
Forward 		Western Michigan
Akron
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

Main article: 2017 MAC Men's Soccer Tournament

The 2017 MAC tournament was played November 10 and 12 on the campus of the regular season champion Western Michigan Broncos.[13] 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

Main article: 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship
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

Main article: 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: [14]

Player School Position Class Hometown
First Team
João Moutinho Akron Defender Freshman Lisbon, Portugal
Brandon Bye Western Michigan Forward Senior Portage, Mich
Second Team
Drew Shepard Western Michigan Goalkeeper Senior Ann Arbor, Michigan

2017 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's All-Great Lakes Region teams

Source: [15]

Player School Position Class Hometown
First Team
Zach Bock Western Michigan Defender Seniorr Novi, Michigan
João Moutinho Akron Defender Freshman Lisbon, Portugal
Brandon Bye Western Michigan Forward Senior Portage, Mich
Second Team
Drew Shepard Western Michigan Goalkeeper Senior Ann Arbor, Michigan
Nate Shultz Akron Defender Senior Mayfield, Ohio
Sam Gainford Akron Forward Senior Liverpool, England
Stuart Holthusen Akron Forward Senior Auckland, New Zealand
Third Team
Tommy Clark Western Michigan Midfielder Junior South Bend, Indiana

2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America teams

Source: [16]

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: [17]

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: [18]

Position Name Class School Major GPA Hometown
First Team
Goalkeeper Drew Shepherd Senior Western Michigan Aviation Flight Science 3.37 Ann Arbor, Michigan
Forward Brandon Bye ♦ Senior Western Michigan Food Marketing and Supply Chain Management 3.76 Portage, Michigan
Second Team
Defender 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.[19] .

United Soccer Coaches 2017 College Team Academic Award

Source: [20]

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= [21]

2016 MAC Men's Soccer Individual Awards
Award Recipient(s)
Player of the Year Brandon Bye, Forward, Western Michigan
Freshman of the Year João Moutinho, Defender, Akron
Gary V. Palmisano Coach of the Year Chad 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).

Player Class GPA Major Hometown (high school/previous college)
Akron
Manuel Cordeiro R-Senior 3.255 Economics Porto, Portugal (Garcia de Orta)
Stuart Holthusen Senior 3.262 Business Administration Auckland, New Zealand
Joe Korb R-Junior 3.332 Marketing Management Willowick, Ohio (Lake Catholic)
Nate Shultz Senior 3.253 Accounting Mayfield, Ohio (Mayfield)
Shane Wiedt R-Junior 3.372 Marketing Akron, Ohio (Archbishop Hoban)
Bowling Green
Chris Brennan Sophomore 3.333 Business Administration Copley, Ohio (Copley)
Charlie Maciejewski Sophomore 3.240 Business Administration Cincinnati, Ohio (Summit Country Day)
Anthony Mwembia Sophomore 3.315 Insurance Toulouse, France
Peter Pugliese Junior 3.600 Accounting Cambridge, Ontario, Canada (Jacob Hespeler Secondary)
Alexis Souahy Senior 3.208 International Business Saint Etienne au Mont, France (Saint Joseph)
Tom Wrobel Sophomore 3.548 Health Science Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic)
Northern Illinois
Adrian Coardos Junior 3.200 Business Administration Evanston, Illinois (Niles North)
Christian Molina Sophomore 3.679 Corporate Communications Katy, Texas (Mayde Creek)
Ethan Pitre Sophomore 3.406 Statistics Minneapolis, Minnesota (Prairie Seeds Academy)
Luke Read Senior 3.460 Finance Ilford, England (Barking Abbey School)
Jerome Roche Senior 3.754 Finance Salon-de-Provence, France (Gardner-Webb)
Max Voss Junior 3.655 Business Administration Herten, Germany (Staedtisches Gymnasium Herten)
SIU Edwardsville
Mohamed Awad Senior 3.297 Business Administration Hamilton, New Zealand (Hamilton Boys'/St. John's)
Joel Duncan Senior 3.244 Criminal Justice Mt. Vernon, Illinois (Mt. Vernon)
Carl Hinkson Junior 3.593 Exercise Science St. George, Barbados (Harrison College)
TC Hull R-Junior 3.756 Business Management St. Charles, Illinois (St. Charles East)
Keegan McHugh R-Junior 3.200 Business-Economics and Finance St. Charles, Missouri (Francis Howell)
Austin Polster Senior 3.400 Business Administration Las Vegas, Nevada (Palo Verde/Wright State0
Kashaun Smith Sophomore 3.800 Mass Communications Kingston, Jamaica (Wolmer's Boys' School)
Greg Solawa Junior 3.634 Business Administration Niles, Illinois (Niles West/Ohio State)
West Virginia
Jad Arslan Senior 3.21 Business Roswell, Georgia (Roswell)
Stephen Banick Junior 3.71 Mathematics Pickerington, Ohio (Pickerington North)
Sebastian Garcia-Herreros Sophomore 3.62 Civil Engineering Southwest Ranches, Florida (Cypress Bay)
Steven James Senior 3.41 Sport Management Sussex, England (Heathfield CC)
Ryan Kellogg Sophomore 3.86 Finance Parkville, Missouri (Park Hill South)
Logan Lucas Sophomore 3.20 General Business Lee's Summit, Missouri ( Lee's Summit West)
Western Michigan
Zach Bock Senior 3.98 Sales & Business Marketing Novi, Michigan (Detroit Catholic Central)
Anthony Bowie Sophomore 4.0 Pre-Business Grand Rapids, Michigan (Forest Hills Central)
Brandon Bye Senior 3.74 Food & Consumer Packaging Goods, and
Marketing and Supply Chain Management		 Portage, Michigan (Portage Northern)
Tommy Clark Junior 3.93 Biomedical Sciences South Bend, Indiana (Saint Joseph/Bradley)
Alex Ruddock R-Sophomore 3.36 Pre-Business Caledonia, Michigan (Caledonia)
Jake Rufe Junior 3.22 Exercise Science Huntsville, Alabama (Grissom/Indiana)
Drew Shepherd R-Senior 3.32 Aviation Flight Science Ann Arbor, Michigan (Huron)
Cameron Sipple Junior 3.81 Exercise Science Traverse City, Michigan (Traverse City West)
Giuseppe Vitale Sophomore 3.68 Biomedical Sciences Washington Twp., Michigan (Eisenhower)

See also

References

  1. ^ "2016 Mid-American Conference Men's Soccer" (PDF). Mid-American Conference. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  2. ^ "UB Reduces Its Intercollegiate Sports Teams from 20 to 16". The University at Buffalo. April 3, 2017. Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  3. ^ "SIU-Edwardsville joins Mid-American Conference as affiliate member in two sports". Hustle Belt/Vox Media, Inc. June 2, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  4. ^ "SIUE men's soccer to join MAC immediately". The Telegraph. June 8, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  5. ^ "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men National Preseason Ranking". United Soccer Coaches. August 3, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  6. ^ "College Soccer News 2017 Preseason National Poll". CollegeSoccerNews.com. August 16, 2017. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  7. ^ "Men's DI Top 25 Preseason". TopDrawerSoccer.com. August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  8. ^ "Soccer America Men's Preseason College Top 25". socceramerica.com. August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  9. ^ "D1 Mens Soccer Rankings". HERO Sports News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  10. ^ "MAC ANNOUNCES 2017 MEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON POLL". Mid-Amertican Conference. August 15, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  11. ^ a b "College Rankings  » NCAA DI MEN". United Soccer Coaches. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  12. ^ "Rankings - NCAA Men's Soccer RPI". NCAA.com. NCAA & Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  13. ^ "2017 Men's Soccer Championship". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  14. ^ "NCAA DI Men's All-America Teams Announced by United Soccer Coaches". United Soccer Coaches. December 7, 2017. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  15. ^ "2017 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's All-Great Lakes Region Teams". United Soccer Coaches. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  16. ^ "2017 Academic All-America Men's Soccer Team" (PDF). College Sports Information Directors of America. December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  17. ^ "CoSIDA Academic All-District® Men's Soccer Teams Released" (PDF). College Sports Information Directors of America. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  18. ^ "2017 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's Scholar All-America Teams". United Soccer Coaches. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  19. ^ "United Soccer Coaches announces National Players of the Year". United Soccer Coaches. December 20, 2017. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  20. ^ "2016-17 College Team Academic Award Winners". United Soccer Coaches. October 5, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  21. ^ "2017 MAC MEN'S SOCCER POSTSEASON AWARDS ANNOUNCED". Mid-American Conference. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.