# 2017 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season

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 | 4,000 | Jared Embick | adidas |
| Bowling Green Falcons | Bowling Green, Ohio | Cochrane Stadium | 1,000 | Eric Nichols | Nike |
| Northern Illinois Huskies | DeKalb, Illinois | NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex | 1,500 | Ryan Swan | adidas |
| SIU Edwardsville Cougars | Edwardsville, Illinois | Ralph Korte Stadium | 4,000 | Mario Sanchez | adidas |
| West Virginia Mountaineers | Morgantown, West Virginia | Dlesk Stadium | 1,600 | Marlon LeBlanc | Nike |
| Western Michigan Broncos | Kalamazoo, Michigan | WMU Soccer Complex | 500 | 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 | 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 =
Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week or no change
| | | 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 =
| | | 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 =
| | 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

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 $^{(PK4–3)}$ 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 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:
| 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:

#### 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 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. .

### 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 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) |