PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The American Athletic Conference announced the men’s soccer awards for the 2017 season, which were voted on by the league’s eight head coaches.
UCF senior Matias Pyysalo was named the American Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. A trio of SMU teammates earned major awards with senior defender Jordan Cano earning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year honor, Mauro Cichero being named American Midfielder of the Year, and redshirt senior Michael Nelson being selected as the American Goalkeeper of the Year. Nelson took home the same honor in 2014 and 2015, while Cichero earned the league’s Offensive yearly honor in 2015. USF forward Adrian Billhardt was tabbed as the American Rookie of the Year, while SMU garnered the league’s Coaching Staff of the Year accolade. Memphis was the winner of the Team Academic Excellence Award as the team with the highest cumulative grade-point average. The American All-Conference and All-Rookie teams were also announced.
Pyysalo leads The American with 17 points and seven goals in league play while tying for second in assists (3). He is a two-time American Offensive Player of the Week selection and ranks among the nation’s leaders in points, goals and assists per game. Pyysalo led the Knights to a second-place finish in The American and helped UCF earn the No. 2 seed at the upcoming conference championship.
Cano is a two-time American Defensive Player of the Week selection. He anchored an SMU backline that tied for first in The American with four shutouts in league play. The senior was also named to the All-American Athletic Conference First Team for his efforts this season.
Cichero, a MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List candidate, is among league leaders in goals per game, game-winning goals, and is Top 30 in the nation in total points (25). Nelson is tied for first in The American with four shutouts in conference play while leading the league in save percentage. The Mustangs limited their opponents to 0.40 goals per game in conference play, which ranked first in The American in league play. Billhardt led the Bulls with 16 points in his rookie campaign. He recorded five points in conference play, which was among league leaders in The American.
SMU head coach Kevin Hudson and his staff garnered Coaching Staff of the Year honors after claiming the American regular-season title and the top overall seed in the American Championship. The Mustangs finished with 16 points and a 5-1-1 mark in league play. They are unbeaten in their last eight games and have posted six consecutive shutouts heading into Friday’s Championship semifinal.
UCF earned the Team Fair Play Award after totaling 108 points (68 fouls, six yellow cards and one red card) during conference play. The Fair Play Award is given to the team with the fewest accumulated fouls, yellow cards and red cards in league action (foul=one point; yellow card=five points; red card =10 points).
Pyysalo, Cano, and Cichero were unanimous First Team All-Conference selections, along with Jacob Hauser-Ramsey (UConn), Abdou Mbacke Thiam (UConn) and Garrett McLaughlin (SMU). The Mustangs led all schools with four First Team selections among the 11 honorees. UCF had three student-athletes named to the team while UConn and USF had a pair of players receive honors. Temple had one student-athlete receive First Team All-Conference accolades.
Billhardt, Yoni Sorokin (UCF), Blaise N’Gague (UConn) and Alan Camacho Soto were unanimous selections to the 12-member All-Rookie team.
2017 American Men's Soccer Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Matias Pyysalo, UCF
Defensive Player of the Year
Jordan Cano, SMU
Midfielder of the Year
Mauro Cichero, SMU
Goalkeeper of the Year
Michael Nelson, SMU
Rookie of the Year
Adrian Billhardt, USF
Coaching Staff of the Year
SMU
Team Academic Excellence Award
Memphis
Team Fair Play Award
UCF
First Team All-Conference
Cal Jennings, F, So., UCF
Matias Pyysalo, M/F, 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., Temple
Second Team All-Conference
Hattabiou 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., Tulsa
All-Rookie Team
Hattabiou 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
[*] denotes unanimous selection
Ties are not broken