# 2017 Conference USA men's soccer season

The 2017 Conference USA men's soccer season was the 23rd season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began on August 25 and concluded on November 12.
The regular season was won by FIU, while the tournament was won by Old Dominion. Both school's were the conference's bids into the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. There, the two programs reached the round of 32 before being eliminated.
Niko Klosterhalfenm and Mercan Akar were named the conference's offensive and defensive most valuable players, respectively. Paul Marie and Alex Bumpus were drafted in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft following the end of the season. Jason Beaulieu and Aaron Herrera signed homegrown contracts with their parent MLS clubs.

## Background
### Head coaches

Three programs had first-year head coaches heading into the 2017 season. Former University of Charleston head coach, Chris Grassie was hired as the head coach for Marshall. Former Orlando City SC scout, Kevin Nylen was named the head coach for FIU. Finally, former South Carolina assistant coach, Joey Worthen, was named head coach for Florida Atlantic.
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | C-USA record | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| Charlotte | Kevin Langan | Charlotte (asst.) | 6 | 64–24–12 (.700) | 64–24–12 (.700) | 30–7–5 (.774) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| FIU | Kevin Nylen | Orlando City SC (scout) | 1 | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Florida Atlantic | Joey Worthen | South Carolina (asst.) | 1 | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kentucky | Johan Cedergren | Dartmouth | 6 | 102–64–26 (.599) | 50–34–12 (.583) | 24–11–6 (.659) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Marshall | Chris Grassie | Charleston (WV) | 1 | 99–20–8 (.811) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Mexico | Jeremy Fishbein | Incarnate Word | 16 | 294–133–46 (.670) | 199–73–36 (.705) | 17–12–4 (.576) | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| Old Dominion | Alan Dawson | North Carolina (asst.) | 21 | 349–155–47 (.676) | 220–125–37 (.624) | 16–13–3 (.547) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | Mark Berson | The Citadel | 39 | 494–231–71 (.665) | 483–226–71 (.665) | 49–32–17 (.587) | 22 | 3 | 0 |
| UAB | Mike Getman | Harvard | 25 | 311–202–49 (.597) | 269–176–40 (.596) | 101–67–16 (.592) | 8 | 0 | 0 |

## Preseason
### Recruiting

National Rankings :
| Team | CSN | TDS |
| Charlotte | NR | NR |
| FIU | NR | 36 |
| Florida Atlantic | NR | NR |
| Kentucky | NR | NR |
| Marshall | NR | NR |
| New Mexico | NR | NR |
| Old Dominion | NR | NR |
| South Carolina | NR | NR |
| UAB | NR | NR |

### Preseason poll

The preseason poll was announced on August 11, 2017. Charlotte was voted to win the Conference USA regular season. New Mexico, FIU and UAB received first place votes.
| | CUSA Coaches |
| 1. | Charlotte (4) |
| 2. | New Mexico (2) |
| 3. | FIU (2) |
| 4. | Kentucky |
| 5. | South Carolina |
| 6. | UAB (1) |
| 7. | Old Dominion |
| 8. | Marshall |
| 9. | Florida Atlantic |

### Preseason team

On August 11, the preseason team was announced.
| Recipient | School | Grade | Pos. |
| ^Elliot Panicco^ | Charlotte | R-So. | GK |
| Santiago Patino* | FIU | Jr. | FW |
| Paul Marie | FIU | Sr. | DF |
| Bjorn Gudjonsson | South Carolina | Jr. | FW |
| David Valverde | UAB | Sr. | MF |
| Julian Veen Uldal | South Carolina | So. | MF |
| Alex Bumpus | Kentucky | Sr. | DF |
| Peyton Ericson | South Carolina | Jr. | MF / DF |
| Joris Ahlinvi | FIU | So. | MF |
| Niko Klosterhalfen | ODU | Jr. | MF |
| Tom Smart | New Mexico | R-So. | D |
| Matthew Constant | New Mexico | So. | D |
*Preseason Offensive Player of the Year ^Preseason Defensive Player of the Year

## Regular season
### Early season tournaments

Three programs participated in early season tournaments. FIU and New Mexico finished undefeated in their respective tournaments, while ODU finished in third place.
| Team | Tournament | Finish |
| FIU | Wolstein Classic | 1-0-1 (2nd) |
| New Mexico | Grange and Ashwill Invitational | 2-0-0 (1st) |
| Old Dominion | ODU Soccer Classic | 0-1-1 (3rd) |

### Rankings
#### United Soccer Coaches National

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
| | | 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 |
| Charlotte | C | 15 | 16 | 25 | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | |
| FIU | C | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 17 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 20 |
| Florida Atlantic | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Kentucky | C | | RV | 19 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 20 | 21 | NR | | RV | | | |
| Marshall | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Mexico | C | 20 | RV | RV | | | | RV | RV | | RV | | | | |
| Old Dominion | C | | 20 | NR | | | RV | RV | 18 | NR | RV | | | 25 | RV |
| South Carolina | C | | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| UAB | C | | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Results

| Team/Opponent | CHA | FIU | FAU | KTY | MAR | UNM | ODU | USC | UAB |
| Charlotte | | | | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | |
| FIU | 2–2 | | | | 4–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | | |
| Florida Atlantic | 1–3 | 1–4 | | | 2–1 | | 0–3 | | |
| Kentucky | | 2–2 | 4–0 | | | | | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Marshall | | | | 1–0 | | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| New Mexico | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 0–1 | | | | | 2–0 |
| Old Dominion | | | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | | 3–2 |
| South Carolina | | 2–5 | 1–2 | | | 2–2 | 3–2 | | |
| UAB | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | | | | | 0–1 | |

## Postseason
### C-USA Tournament

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | 1 | FIU | 1 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Charlotte | 3 | | | |
| 4 | Charlotte | 1 | 4 | Charlotte | 3 | | | |
| 5 | New Mexico | 0 | | | | | | |
| 5 | New Mexico | 0 | | | | 2 | Old Dominion | 1 |
| | | | | | | 4 | Charlotte | 0 |
| 2 | Old Dominion | 2 | | | | | | | 4 | Charlotte | 0 |
| 7 | South Carolina | 0 | | | | | | |
| 7 | South Carolina | 0 | 2 | Old Dominion | 1 | | | |
| | | | 6 | Marshall | 0 | | | |
| 3 | Kentucky | 0 | 6 | Marshall | 0 | | | |
| 6 | Marshall | 1 | | | | | | |

### NCAA Tournament

| Seed | Region | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| — | Chapel Hill | FIU | W, 2–0 vs. Omaha – (Miami) | L, 1–2 vs. #6 Duke – (Durham) | | | | |
| — | Bloomington | Old Dominion | W, 2–0 vs. NC State – (Norfolk) | L, 0–3 vs. #2 Indiana – (Bloomington) | | | | |

## Awards
### Regular season awards
#### Players of the Week

| Week | Offensive | Offensive | Offensive | Defensive | Defensive | Defensive | Goalkeeper | Goalkeeper | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie | Ref. |
| Week | Player | Position | Team | Player | Position | Team | Player | Team | Player | Position | Team | Ref. |

### Postseason awards
#### All-C-USA awards and teams

2017 C-USA Men's Soccer Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Santiago Patino, FIU |
| Offensive Player of the Year | Aaron Herrera, New Mexico |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Santiago Patino, FIU |
| Freshman of the Year | Enrique Facusse, Kentucky |
| Golden Glove Award | Mertcan Akar, Old Dominion Enrique Facusse, Kentucky |
| Coach of the Year | Kevin Nylen, FIU |
2017 C-USA Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | Rookie Team |
| F: Luca Mayr, South Carolina F: Santiago Patino, FIU F: Daniel Bruce, Charlotte MF: Paul Marie, FIU MF: Joris Ahlinvi, FIU MF: Tommy Madden, Charlotte D: Aaron Herrera, New Mexico D: Alex Bumpus, Kentucky D: Callum Montgomery, Charlotte GK: Mertcan Akar, Old Dominion GK: Enrique Facusse, Kentucky | F: Brandon Perdue, Old Dominion F: Lewis Knight, Marshall MF: Niko Klosterhalfen, Old Dominion MF: David Valverde, UAB MF: Massimo Ferrin, UAB D: Chris Wallander-Ianev, South Carolina D: Tom Smart, New Mexico D: Fox Slotemaker, Old Dominion D: Carlos Diaz-Salcedo, Marshall D: Marvin Hezel, FIU D: Mathieu Laurent, UAB GK: Jason Beaulieu, New Mexico | F: JJ Williams, Kentucky F: Max Wilschrey, Old Dominion F: Sam Gleadle, New Mexico MF: Sebastien Hauret, Old Dominion MF: Aaron Scott, New Mexico MF: Kevin Barajas, Kentucky MF: Teddy Chaouche, Charlotte MF: Donald Tomlinson, FIU D: Leon Jones, Kentucky GK: Hugo Fauroux, FIU | Enrique Facusse, Kentucky Lewis Knight, Marshall Alessandro Campoy, FIU Justin Sukow, South Carolina Brandon Perdue, Old Dominion Joe Brito, Charlotte Billy Jones, New Mexico Ferdinand Solberg, Florida Atlantic Leon Jones, Kentucky Matias Barraza, FIU Aime Mabika, Kentucky Hans Kroschwitz, Old Dominion Nick Barreiro, New Mexico |

#### All-Americans
##### College Soccer News

Three players in the conference were named All-Americans by CollegeSoccerNews.com.
* Santiago Patino, FIU — Second team All-American
* Paul Marie, FIU — Third team All-American

##### United Soccer Coaches

One player in the conference were named All-Americans by United Soccer Coaches.
* Santiago Patino, FIU — First team All-American

## MLS SuperDraft
### Total picks by school

| Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
| Charlotte | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FIU | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Florida Atlantic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Marshall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Mexico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Old Dominion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UAB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### List of selections

| Round | Pick # | MLS team | Player | Position | College | Ref. |
| 1 | 12 | San Jose Earthquakes | Paul Marie | Midfielder | FIU | |
| 3 | 52 | New York City FC | Alex Bumpus | Defender | Kentucky | |

### Homegrown contracts

| Original MLS team | Player | Position | College | Notes | Ref. |
| Montreal Impact | Jason Beaulieu | Goalkeeper | New Mexico | | |
| Real Salt Lake | Aaron Herrera | Defender | New Mexico | 2017 C-USA Defender of the Year | |