The 2017 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season was the 5th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began on August 25 and concluded on November 12, 2017.

Defending regular season champions, SMU, retained their title, and won the 2017 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. The Mustangs were the conference's sole berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they reached the round of 16. There, they lost to North Carolina.

Background Head coaches

Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record Record at school American record NCAATournaments NCAACollege Cups NCAATitlesCincinnati Hylton Dayes Wright State 18 2 0 0Connecticut Ray Reid Southern Connecticut 21 16 2 1 Memphis Richard Mulrooney Memphis (asst.) 4 0 0 0SMU Kevin Hudson SMU (asst.) 3 2 0 0 South Florida Bob Butehorn Florida Gulf Coast 1 4 0 0 Temple Dave MacWilliams Philadelphia KiXX 18 3 0 0Tulsa Tom McIntosh Tulsa (asst.) 21 10 0 0 UCF Scott Calabrese FIU 1 3 0 0

Preseason

Recruiting

+ National Rankings Team CSN TDSCincinnati NR NRConnecticut NR 17Memphis NR NRSMU NR NRSouth Florida NR 31Temple NR NRTulsa NR NRUCF NR NR

Preseason poll

Team ranking First place votes Raw points 1. Connecticut 4 45 2. Tulsa 1 43 3. South Florida 2 34 4. UCF 0 29 5. SMU 1 27 6. Temple 0 20 7. Cincinnati 0 18 8. Memphis 0 8

Preseason All-AAC Teams Honor Recipient Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Matias Pyysalo, UCF Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Nielsen, Cincinnati Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year Michael Nelson, SMU

Preseason All-AAC Team

Regular season Rankings

+ Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week UCS United Soccer Coaches poll TDS Top Drawer Soccer poll

  Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 FinalCincinnati UCS TDS Connecticut UCS 24 RV RV TDS RV 25 Memphis UCS TDS SMU UCS RV RV RV 19 RV 25 17 14 12 13 11 10 10 10 10 8 TDS 24 14 10 7 7 6 6 6 10 10South Florida UCS TDS Temple UCS TDS Tulsa UCS 20 TDS UCF UCS TDS

Sources: TopDrawer Soccer, United Soccer Coaches

Postseason AAC Tournament

NCAA Tournament

Seed Region School 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Chapel Hill SMUW, 2–0 vs. Central Arkansas – (Dallas)W, 2–1 vs. No. 14 Georgetown – (Washington, D.C.)L, 0–2 vs. No. 3 North Carolina – (Cary)

Records against other conferences

ConferenceRecordAtlantic 10 1–2–0ACC 0–5–1Atlantic Sun 5–1–1Big East 3–4–2Big South Conference 1–0–0Big Ten 1–1–1Big West 1–0–0CAA 3–1–1Conference USA 2–4–0Horizon 4–2–1Ivy 3–1–0MAAC 1–3–0Mid-American 1–2–1Missouri Valley 2–1–0Pac-12 1–1–0Patriot 1–0–0Southland 1–0–0Summit 3–0–0West Coast 3–0–0WAC 0–0–1Total37–27–10

Awards Regular season awards

Players of the Week

Week Offensive Defensive Goalkeeper Rookie Ref. Player Position Team Player Position Team Player Team Player Position Team August 28 Mauro Cichero MF SMU Malik Suleman MF Cincinnati Noah Lawrence Cincinnati Darryn Commissiong MF Cincinnati September 4 Garrett McLaughlin FW SMU Nkosi Burgess DF Connecticut Scott Levene Connecticut Adrian Billhardt FW South Florida September 11 Rollie Rocha MF Tulsa Jonathan Dean DF UCF Marcel Da Silva Tulsa Luke Biasi MF Memphis September 18 Sean Clarke MF Cincinnati Jordan Cano DF SMU Pearce Skinner Cincinnati Sean Clarke MF Cincinnati September 25 Abdou Mbacke Thiam FW Connecticut Gustavo Vargas DF Tulsa Scott Levene Connecticut Chris Mikus MF Memphis October 2 Alan Camacho Soto FW Temple Jared Rice DF SMU Scott Levene Connecticut Alan Camacho Soto FW Temple October 9 Ricardo Gomez MF South Florida Jake Hauser-Ramsey DF Connecticut Scott Levene Connecticut Jackson Brady DF Memphis October 16 Matias Pyysalo MF UCF Jake Hauser-Ramsey DF Connecticut Michael Nelson SMU Josh Burnett MF Connecticut October 23 Cal Jennings FW UCF Jordan Cano DF SMU Michael Nelson SMU Alan Camacho Soto FW Temple October 30 Matias Pyysalo MF UCF Andreas Steinegar DF UCF Christian Knight South Florida Brantley Bice FW Memphis November 2 Garrett McLaughlin FW SMU Jordan Cano DF SMU Michael Nelson SMU Chase Bromstedt MF Tulsa

Postseason awards All-AAC awards and teams

2017 AAC Men's Soccer Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Offensive Player of the YearMatias Pyysalo, UCF Defensive Player of the YearJordan Cano, SMU Goalkeeper of the YearMichael Nelson, SMURookie of the YearAdrian Billhardt, South FloridaCoach of the YearKevin Hudson, SMUAcademic Excellent TeamMemphisTeam Fair Play AwardUCF

2017 AAC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams First Team Second Team Rookie TeamCal Jennings, F, So., UCF Matias Pyysalo, M/F Sr., UCF Yoni Sorokin, M, Fr., UCF Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, B Jr., UConn Abdou Mbacke Thiam, F Jr., UConn Adrian Billhardt, F, Fr., USF Ricardo Gomez, M Sr., USF Jordan Cano, B Sr., SMU Mauro Cichero, M Sr., SMU Garrett McLaughlin, F, So., SMU Michael Nelson, GK, R-Sr., SMU Divin Fula Luzolo, B Sr., TempleHattabiou Barry, M, Fr., UCF Louis Perez, M, Fr., UCF Andreas Steineger, B Jr., UCF David Sanz, M, So., Cincinnati Dylan Greenberg, B, R-Sr., UConn Scott Levene, GK, R-Sr., UConn Ben Roberts, B, So., Memphis David Zalzman, M Jr., Memphis Jared Rice, B/M Sr., SMU Alan Camacho Soto, F, Fr., Temple Thibault Candia, F, So., Temple Rollie Rocha, M Sr., TulsaHattabiou Barry, M, UCF Louis Perez, M, UCF Yoni Sorokin, M, UCF Josh Burnett, M, UConn Blaise N’Gague, M, UConn Adrian Billhardt, F, USF Josue Monge, M, USF Talen Maples, B, SMU Alan Camacho Soto, F, Temple Darri Sigthorsson, B, Temple Joe Ruiz, M, Tulsa

All-Americans College Soccer News Three players in the conference were named All-Americans by CollegeSoccerNews.com.

Mauro Cichero, SMU — 1st Team All-American Michael Nelson, SMU — 1st Team All-American Jordan Cano, SMU — 3rd Team All-American

United Soccer Coaches

Three players in the conference were named All-Americans by United Soccer Coaches.

Mauro Cichero, SMU — 1st Team All-American Jordan Cano, SMU — 3rd Team All-American Garrett McLaughlin, SMU — 3rd Team All-American

MLS SuperDraft

Two players from the conference were selected in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft. This included Michael Nelson and Mauro Cichero, both of SMU.

Total picks by school

TeamRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4TotalCincinnati 0 0 0 0 0Connecticut 0 0 0 0 0Memphis 0 0 0 0 0SMU 1 1 0 0 2South Florida 0 0 0 0 0Temple 0 0 0 0 0Tulsa 0 0 0 0 0UCF 0 0 0 0 0

List of selections

Round Pick # MLS team Player Position College Other Ref. 1 20 Houston Dynamo Michael Nelson GK SMU 2 29 FC Dallas Mauro Cichero FW SMU

Homegrown contracts

Original MLS teamPlayerPositionCollegeNotes Ref.FC DallasDefenderSMU2017 AAC Defender of the Year

See also 2017 NCAA Division I men's soccer season 2017 American Athletic Conference women's soccer season

References

External links American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer