UConn/Stephen Slade

Men's Soccer

Seven from The American Selected in 2017 MLS SuperDraft



Five players from the American Athletic Conference were selected on the first day of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft on Friday at the LA Convention Center.

UConn had a pair of players taken in the first round in defender Jake Nerwinski (No. 7) and midfielder Kwame Awuah (No.  16). Nerwinski was selected by the Vancouver Whitecaps, while Awuah was picked by New York City FC.

Nerwinski and Awuah become the 13th and 14th Huskies taken in the first round of the MLS Draft. UConn has now had 36 players drafted by an MLS club since the league began in 1997. The two first round selection marks the fourth time that UConn has had multiple players drafted in the first round (2002, 2012, 2015).

Nerwinski was an American All-Conference member for three seasons with the Huskies, including his First Team All-Conference selections the past two seasons. Awuah  Awuah started in 82 of a possible 83 games in his UConn career, contributing on both the offensive and defensive ends.

The second round saw three American booters selected in Marcus Epps (USF), Lindo Mfeka (USF) and Jake McGuire (Tulsa). Epps was the third pick in the second round (25th overall) and is heading north to Philadelphia to join the Philadelphia Union while Mfeka was selected three picks later (28th overall) by the San Jose Earthquakes. McGuire was the eighth pick in the second round (30th overall) by the Houston Dynamo.

Mfeka and Epps became the first USF draftees since 2015, and the highest drafted players since Ben Sweat was drafted by the Columbus Crew in 2014. McGuire is the Hurricane’s 22nd men’s soccer player to play professionally and 14th to be drafted in the MLS SuperDraft or Supplemental Draft.

Epps joins a Philadelphia Union team that made its second MLS Cup playoff appearance in 2016. He tallied eight goals and nine assists in 75 career matches with the Bulls. Mfeka, a NSCAA All-Region midfielder, tallied 13 points off four goals and five assists in his final season at USF.  McGuire, the American Championship's Most Outstanding Defensive Player, concluded his career with 17 career clean sheets for the most in school history (dating back to 1996). He played all 1,905 minutes of the 2016 season in goal.

The third and fourth rounds of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft were conducted on Tuesday, Jan. 17 via teleconference. Temple forward Jorge Gomez Sanchez was taken as the seventh pick in the third round (51st overall) by the Vancouver Whitecaps. USF forward Nazeem Bartman was also selected by Vancouver as the seventh pick and 73rd overall in the fourth round. 

Gomez Sanchez was the first Owl selected in the SuperDraft after earning first team All-Conference and ranking ninth all-time for career points with 62. Prior to Gomez Sanchez's selection, Temple head coach Dave MacWilliams had helped place six Owls in the pros: Tony Donatelli, Patrick Hannigan, Ryan Heins, Steven Wacker, Matt Maher, and J.T. Noone.

Bartman led the Bulls with six goals and three assists for 16 points in his final season at USF. He is a two-time American Athletic Conference first team honoree and was named an NSCAA All-American in 2015.
 
Round/Pick Team Player Position School
1/7th Vancouver Jake Nerwinski D UConn
1/16th New York  Kwame Awuah M UConn
2/25th Philadelphia Marcus Epps F USF
2/28th San Jose Lindo Mfeka M USF
2/30th Houston Jake McGuire GK Tulsa
3/51st Vancouver Jorge Gomez Sanchez F Temple
4/73rd Vancouver Nazeem Bartman F USF