2017 Atlantic Sun Conference men's soccer season

The 2017 Atlantic Sun 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 Atlantic Sun 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.

2017 Atlantic Sun Conference men's soccer season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Soccer
Duration	August 25, 2017 – November 12, 2017
Number of teams	8
2018 MLS SuperDraft
Top draft pick	Nicolas Samayoa, FGCU
Picked by	New England Revolution, 78th overall
Regular Season
Season champions	Stetson
Runners-up	Florida Gulf Coast
Season MVP	Mamadou Guirassy
Top scorer	Mamadou Guirassy (16)
Tournament
Champions	Lipscomb
Runners-up	Jacksonville
Finals MVP	Ivan Sakou

2017 Atlantic Sun Conference men's soccer standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Stetson	4	–	0	–	2			7	–	7	–	2
Florida Gulf Coast	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	6	–	3
NJIT	3	–	2	–	1			8	–	7	–	4
North Florida	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	10	–	2
Jacksonville	2	–	3	–	1			6	–	10	–	1
Lipscomb ‡	2	–	4	–	0			11	–	8	–	2
USC Upstate	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	10	–	2
‡ – 2017 ASUN Tournament champion + – Invited to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship As of November 17, 2017; Rankings from United Soccer Coaches

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 A-Sun power, Florida Gulf Coast for the title. In the tournament, Lipscomb earned their first A-Sun championship, and thus, their first berth into the NCAA Tournament.[1] There, they lost in the first round to Butler.[2]

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.[3] This came following Bob Butehorn's departure from FGCU, to coach South Florida.[4] 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.[5]

Head coaches

Team	Head coach[6]	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	A-Sun record[7]	NCAA Tournaments[8]	NCAA College Cups[8]	NCAA Titles[8]
Florida Gulf Coast	Jesse Cormier	Vermont	1	122–95–50 (.551)	8–6–3 (.559)	4–1–1 (.750)	3	0	0
Jacksonville	Mauricio Ruiz	UCF (asst.)	4	21–42–2 (.338)	21–42–2 (.338)	6–16–1 (.283)	0	0	0
Lipscomb	Charles Morrow	Belmont Abbey	14	110–128–28 (.466)	90–115–22 (.445)	30–28–7 (.515)	1	0	0
NJIT	Fernando Barboto	Iona	2	16–13–8 (.541)	16–13–8 (.541)	6–4–2 (.583)	0	0	0
North Florida	Derek Marinatos	Furman (asst.)	7	32–49–5 (.401)	32–49–5 (.401)	36–54–8 (.408)	1	0	0
Stetson	Kyle Gookins	Charlotte (asst.)	1	7–7–2 (.500)	7–7–2 (.500)	4–0–2 (.833)	0	0	0
USC Upstate	Scott Halkett	USC Upstate (asst.)	1	3–10–2 (.267)	3–10–2 (.267)	1–5–0 (.167)	0	0	0

Preseason

Recruiting

National Rankings

Team	CSN[9]	TDS[10]
Florida 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.[11]

	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	FGC	JAX	LIP	NJT	UNF	STE	USC
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

United Soccer Coaches National

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

		Pre[12]	Wk 1[13]	Wk 2[14]	Wk 3[15]	Wk 4[16]	Wk 5[17]	Wk 6[18]	Wk 7[19]	Wk 8[20]	Wk 9[21]	Wk 10[22]	Wk 11[23]	Wk 12[24]	Final
Florida Gulf Coast	C	23	NR
Jacksonville	C
Lipscomb	C
NJIT	C
North Florida	C
Stetson	C
USC Upstate	C

Postseason

A-Sun Tournament

	First round November 3					Semifinals November 5					Final November 11
						1	Stetson	1
	4	North Florida	1			5	Jacksonville (2OT)	2
	5	Jacksonville	2								5	Jacksonville	1
											6	Lipscomb	2
						2	Florida Gulf Coast	1
	3	NJIT	3 (3)			6	Lipscomb	2
	6	Lipscomb	3 (3)

NCAA Tournament

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

Awards

All-ASun awards and teams

2017 A-Sun Men's Soccer Individual Awards[25]
Award	Recipient(s)
A-Sun Player of the Year	Mamadou Guirassy, NJIT
A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year	Nicolas Samayoa, FGCU
A-Sun Coach of the Year	Kyle Gookins, Stetson
A-Sun Goalkeeper of the Year	Joseph Melong, Stetson
A-Sun Freshman of the Year	Deniz Dogan, Stetson

A-Sun First-Team

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

A-Sun Second-Team

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

All-Americans

No players from the Atlantic Sun Conference earned All-American honors.[26][27]

MLS SuperDraft

Total picks by school

Team	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total
Florida Gulf Coast	0	0	0	1	1
Jacksonville	0	0	0	0	0
Lipscomb	0	0	0	0	0
NJIT	0	0	0	1	1
North Florida	0	0	0	0	0
Stetson	0	0	0	0	0
USC 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	[28]
4	87	Portland Timbers	Mamadou Guirassy	FW	NJIT	[29]

Homegrown contracts

No players from the Atlantic Sun Conference signed homegrown contracts with their parent MLS club.[30]

See also

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

References

1. "Dolphins denied: Lipscomb beats JU in A-Sun men's soccer final". The Florida Times-Union. GateHouse Media. November 11, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
2. Doering, Joshua (November 16, 2017). "Butler men's soccer beats Lipscomb in first round of NCAA tournament". The Collegian. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
3. "Jesse Cormier Named New @FGCU_MSoccer Head Coach". Florida Gulf Coast University Athletics. FGCUAthletics.com. January 23, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
4. "Butehorn Appointed Men's Soccer Head Coach". University of South Florida Athletics. GoUSFBulls.com. December 18, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
5. "Kyle Gookins named Stetson Men's Soccer Head Coach". Atlantic Sun Conference. ASunSports.org. December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
6. "ASUN Men's Soccer Head Coaches". asunsports.org. Atlantic Sun Conference. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
7. "ASUN Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). asunsports.org. Atlantic Sun Conference. December 4, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
8. "NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. ncaa.org. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
9. "2017 Team Recruiting Classes". College Soccer News. March 3, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
10. Clark, Travis (July 10, 2017). "2017 Boys Recruiting Rankings: July update". Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
11. "Ruiz, Samayoa & Fajardo Earn #ASUNMSOC Preseason Honors; FGCU Top Poll". asunsports.org. Atlantic Sun Conference. August 16, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
12. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Preseason Ranking - Aug. 3, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. August 3, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
13. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 1 - August 29, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. August 29, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
14. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 2 - September 5, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. September 5, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
15. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 3 - September 12, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
16. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 4 - September 19, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. September 19, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
17. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 5 - September 26, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. September 26, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
18. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 6 - October 3, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. October 3, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
19. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 7 - October 10, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. October 10, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
20. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 8 - October 17, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. October 17, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
21. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 9 - October 24, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. October 24, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
22. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 10 - October 31, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. October 31, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
23. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 11 - November 7, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. November 7, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
24. "United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men - National - Poll 12 - November 14, 2017". United Soccer Coaches. November 14, 2017. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
25. "NJIT Guirassy Voted #ASUNMOC Player of the Year; Hatters Earn Three Honors". asunsports.org. Atlantic Sun Conference. November 1, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
26. "College Soccer News 2017 All-America Teams". collegesoccernews.com. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
27. "NCAA DI Men's All-America Teams Announced by United Soccer Coaches". unitedsoccercoaches.com. United Soccer Coaches. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
28. Catanese, Jake (January 21, 2018). "Revs Select Defender Nicolas Samayoa In 4th Round". The Bent Musket. SB Nation. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
29. Goldberg, Jamie (January 21, 2018). "Portland Timbers select four players in second day of 2018 MLS SuperDraft". The Oregonian. Advance Publications. Retrieved January 31, 2018. In the fourth round, the Timbers selected Mamadou Guirassy out of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (No. 87 overall pick)
30. "MLS Homegrown Players". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. January 1, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2018.