# 2017 ASUN Conference men's soccer season

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 | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| 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 | TDS |
| 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.
| | 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 | |

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

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
| | | Pre | Wk 1 |
| 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 | First round November 3 | First round November 3 | Semifinals November 5 | Semifinals November 5 | Semifinals November 5 | Final November 11 | Final November 11 | 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 |
| — | Winston-Salem | Lipscomb | L, 0–2 vs. Butler – (Indianapolis) | | | | | |

## 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 | 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) |

##### ASUN 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 ASUN Conference earned All-American honors.

## 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 | |
| 4 | 87 | Portland Timbers | Mamadou Guirassy | FW | NJIT | |

### Homegrown contracts

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