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Welcome to the 2017 American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship Westcott Field (Dallas) on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) will host the 2017 American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship. SMU earned the 2017 American Athletic Conference men’s soccer regular-season title and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Conference Championship. UCF will be seeded No. 2 while UConn and Temple claimed the third and fourth seeds, respectively. All four teams will compete for the championship title and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Knights and the Huskies kick off Championship semifinals action at 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT in the first match of the day on Friday, Nov. 10, while the host Mustangs face the Owls in the night cap at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. Both semifinal matchups will air live on The American Digital Network (www.YouTube.com/AmericanAthleticConf. The semifinal winners will square off in the title game on Sunday, Nov. 12 (2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT, ESPNU) for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. No. 3 UConn Nov. 10, 4:30 p.m. CT Dallas, Texas No. 2 UCF Nov. 12, 1 p.m. CT Dallas, Texas 2017 American Men’s Soccer Champion No. 4 Temple Nov. 10, 7 p.m. CT Dallas, Texas No. 1 SMU @American_MSoc Facebook.com/AmericanConf 2017 NCAA Championship – Men’s College Cup The winner of the the American Athletic Conference Championship receives the league’s automatic bid to the 48-team NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship. The 2017 NCAA Championship marks the 59th anniversary of the tournament. First, second and third round games, as well as the quarterfinals, are held on the campuses of participating institutions in a single-elimination format. The College Cup, which includes the national semifinals and championship, will be held at Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Dec. 9 and 11. 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship Schedule First Round Campus Sites Thurs., Nov. 17 Second Round Campus Sites Sun., Nov. 20 Third Round Campus Sites Sat., Nov. 26 Quarterfinals Campus Sites Fri.-Sat., Dec. 2-4 Semifinals Talen Energy Stadium Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Fri., Dec. 9 Championship Talen Energy Stadium Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sun., Dec. 11 2017 A MERICAN A THLETIC C ONFERENCE MEN’ S S OCCER C HAMPIONSHIP 1 2017 AWARD WINNERS AND ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR DEFENSIVE OF THE YEAR GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR Matias Pyysalo Jordan Cano Michael Nelson UCF, Sr., M/F SMU, Sr., B SMU, R-Sr. Pyysalo led The American Cano was a two-time Nelson tied for first in with 17 points and seven American Defensive The American with four goals in league play Player of the Week shutouts in conference while tying for second in selection. He anchored play while leading the assists (3). He is a two- an SMU backline that tied for first in The league in save percentage. The Mustangs time American Offensive American with four shutouts in league limited their opponents to 0.40 goals per Player of the Week play. The senior was also named to the game in conference play, which ranked selection and ranks among the nation’s All-American Athletic Conference First first in The American in league play. leaders in points, goals and assists per Team for his efforts this season. 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. MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR Mauro Cichero Adrian Billhardt SMU SMU, Sr. USF, Fr., F Cichero, a MAC SMU head coach Kevin Billhardt led the Bulls Hermann Trophy Hudson and his staff with 16 points in his Watch List candidate, garnered Coaching Staff rookie campaign. He of the Year honors after claiming the is among league recorded five points in American regular-season title and the top leaders in goals per game, game-winning conference play, which was among league overall seed in the American Championship. goals, and is Top 30 in the nation in total leaders in The American. The Mustangs finished with 16 points points (25). and a 5-1-1 mark in league play. They are TEAM FAIR PLAY AWARD unbeaten in their last eight games and UCF have posted six consecutive shutouts heading into Friday’s Championship UCF earned the Team semifinal. 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). ALL-AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE [*] Unanimous Selection FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM ROOKIE TEAM Cal Jennings, F, So., UCF Hattabiou Barry, M, Fr., UCF Hattabiou Barry, M, UCF Matias Pyysalo, M/F, Sr., UCF * Louis Perez, M, Fr., UCF Louis Perez, M, UCF Yoni Sorokin, M, Fr., UCF Andreas Steineger, B, Jr., UCF Yoni Sorokin, M, UCF * Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, B, Jr., UConn * David Sanz, M, So., Cincinnati Josh Burnett, M, UConn Abdou Mbacke Thiam, F, Jr., UConn * Dylan Greenberg, B, R-Sr., UConn Blaise N’Gague, M, UConn * Adrian Billhardt, F, Fr., USF Scott Levene, GK, R-Sr., UConn Adrian Billhardt, F, USF * Ricardo Gomez, M, Sr., USF Ben Roberts, B, So., Memphis Josue Monge, M, USF Jordan Cano, B, Sr., SMU * David Zalzman, M, Jr., Memphis Talen Maples, B, SMU Mauro Cichero, M, Sr., SMU * Jared Rice, B/M, Sr., SMU Alan Camacho Soto, F, Temple * Garrett McLaughlin, F, So., SMU * Alan Camacho Soto, F, Fr., Temple Darri Sigthorsson, B, Temple Michael Nelson, GK, R-Sr., SMU Thibault Candia, F, So., Temple Joe Ruiz, M, Tulsa Divin Fula Luzolo, B, Sr., Temple Rollie Rocha, M, Sr., Tulsa 2 No. 1 SEED SMU MUSTANGS Location: ........................................................................................Dallas, Texas Nickname: ..........................................................................................Mustangs Colors: ............................................................................................Red and Blue Enrollment: .................................................................................................11,739 Founded: ..........................................................................................................1911 Director of Athletics: ......................................................................Rick Hart Assistant Coaches: ..................Dustin Norman, Brett Koziczkowski Website: ...............................................................www.SMUMustangs.com Statistical Leaders Player GP Goals Assists Points Garrett McLaughlin 16 13 2 28 Mauro Cichero 15 9 7 25 Jared Rice 15 1 5 7 Nicky Hernandez 14 1 2 4 Emil Cuello 13 0 4 4 Jordan Cano 16 0 4 4 Goalkeeper GP Min. Saves GA/GAA SO HeadH d CoachC h KevinK i HHudsond Michael Nelson 16 1468:48 46 9/0.55 9 SMU MUSTANGS (13-2-1 Overall / 5-1-1 American) AUGUST 25 UC Davis W, 3-2 SEPTEMBER 1 Oakland@ W, 2-1 3 Cornell@ W, 3-0 7 at No. 1/1 Stanford (Pac-12 Networks) L, 1-3 9 at Santa Clara W, 1-0 15 RV/NR Loyola (Md.) W, 4-0 17 Brown W, 1-0 24 at Tulsa* (The American Digital Network) L, 0-1 (OT) 29 UCF* W, 2-1 OCTOBER 7 at Temple* W, 2-1 10 Northeastern W, 6-0 14 Memphis* W, 1-0 (2OT) 17 Oral Roberts W, 2-0 21 at Cincinnati* W, 2-0 29 at USF* T, 0-0 (2OT) NOVEMBER 4 UConn* W, 1-0 10 No. 4 seed Temple ^ (The American Digital Network) 7 p.m. All times CST and subject to change [*] Denotes conference game [^] American Championship [@] SMU Tournament SophomoreSSophhomore GarrettGGarrettt McLaughlinMMcLLaughliin 2017 A MERICAN A THLETIC C ONFERENCE MEN’ S S OCCER C HAMPIONSHIP 3 FrontFrronont RRoRoww (L((L-R):-RR)): Talen Maples, Tyler Long, Austin Vincent, Caleb Smith, Nicky Hernandez, Ryan Capo, Emil Cuello, Tosh Yasuda, Philip Ponder, Eddie Munjoma. Middle Row (L-R): Boston Gilbert, Joshua Berney, Garrett McLaughlin, Luke Thompson, DJ Williams, Abdul Yassine, Christian Boorom, Dakota Okwuone, Garrett Welch, Noah Hilt. Back Row (L-R): Associate Head Coach Dustin Norman, Assistant Coach Brett Koziczkowski, Patrick Wintergalen, Colten Habecker, Jacob Cohen, Patrick M. Hillyard, Michael Nelson, Grant Makela, Matteo DeFina, Mauro Cichero, Jordan Cano, Jared Rice, Head Coach Kevin Hudson, Graduate Assistant Jaime Ibarra, Athletic Trainer Becky Riegle. SMU MUSTANGS No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown/Previous School 1 Michael Nelson GK 6-4 180 Sr. Katy, Texas/Seven Lakes 2 Jordan Cano D 6-1 170 Sr. Frisco, Texas/Lone Star 3 Philip Ponder D 6-1 170 So. Denton, Texas/Lone Star 4 Garrett Welch D 5-10 175 Sr. Richmond, Texas/Foster 5 Boston Gilbert MF 6-0 160 So. San Antonio, Texas/San Antonio Christian 6 Jared Rice D/MF 6-1 185 Sr. Plano Texas/Plano East 7 Garrett McLaughlin F 6-0 165 So. Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage Hall 8 Caleb Smith MF 5-9 135 Jr. Arlington, Texas/Arlington Martin 10 Emil Cuello MF 5-11 165 Jr. Orem, Utah/Orem 11 Christian Boorom MF/F 5-11 170 Jr. Fort Lauderdale, Fla./IMG Academy 12 Eddie Munjoma D 5-10 155 So. Dallas, Texas/Lone Star 13 Matteo DeFina GK 6-2 165 Fr. Livermore, Calif./Granada/Mustang SC 14 Mauro Cichero F 6-3 175 Sr. Norman, Okla./Norman North 15 Colten Habecker F 6-1 175 Jr. Douglassville, Pa./The Hill School 16 Dakota Okwuone F/MF 5-10 185 So. Olathe, Kan./Olathe South 17 Tosh Yasuda MF 5-10 150 So. Las Cruces, N.M./Lone Star 18 Patrick M. Hillyard GK 6-1 165 So. Houston, Texas/Cinco Ranch 19 Nicky Hernandez F/MF 5-11 160 Fr. Dallas, Texas/School of Science and Engineering 21 Jacob Cohen F/MF 6-1 170 So.