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NCAA Aug 09, 2022

Defenders to Watch in NCAA Men’s Soccer for 2022

KANSAS CITY, MO – United Soccer Coaches has announced the Defenders on its NCAA Division I Players to Watch lists for the 2022 intercollegiate season.

The lists are comprised of 35 women and 24 men, led by three returning All-Americans on each list. On the men’s side, the returning All-Americans were all third team in 2021, including Mariano Fazio of Tulsa, Daniel Munie of Indiana and Bjarne Thiesen of West Virginia.

The lists are being released for the first time this season by the Division I All-America Committees to promote college soccer leading up to the official start date for the regular season later this month. The lists include United Soccer Coaches All-Americans and first or second team All-Region players from 2021, who are scheduled to return for the 2022 season.

“United Soccer Coaches is pleased to be able to bring some additional focus to these outstanding student-athletes from our member schools as pre-season training gets underway,” said Ralph Polson, the Senior College All-America Administrator. “While other players will most certainly emerge, these previous honorees represent some of the best at their positions entering this season.”

These positional announcements also lead up to the 2022 watch lists for the prestigious Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy on the official start date for regular season games on August 18 (women) and August 25 (men). The MAC Hermann Trophy is presented annually to the Division I National Players of the Year as voted by Division I College Coaches at the end of the regular season. The 2022 recipients will be announced on January 6, 2023, in St. Louis, Mo.

2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Players to Watch – Defenders

Name Class School  Hometown
Melker Anshelm GR5 James Madison University Stockholm, Sweden
Hugo Bacharach Jr. Fairleigh Dickinson University Benicassim, Spain
Nicolas Blassou GR5 UCLA Rockville, Md.
Max Broughton Jr. SIU-Edwardsville Rawstenstall, England
Tyler Clegg GR5 James Madison University Woodbridge, Va.
Hamady Diop Jr. Clemson University Dakar, Senegal
Noah Egan Sr. University of Vermont Irvine, Calif.
Mariano Fazio Sr. University of Tulsa Seville, Spain
Lucas Gen Sr. Princeton University Sacramento, Calif.
Pietro Grassi So. UCLA Milan, Italy
Luis Grassow Sr. University of Kentucky Munich, Germany
Noah Gulden GR5 Lipscomb University Drammen, Norway
Henry Haferkorn Jr. Long Island University Datteln, Germany
Michael Hong GR5 Loyola University Chicago Vernon Hills, Ill.
Liam Johnson GR5 University of Denver Golden, Colo.
Luke McNamara GR5 Seattle University South Huntington, N.Y.
Moses Mensah Sr. Campbell University Cape Coast, Ghana
Daniel Munie Sr. Indiana University Maryland Heights, Mo.
Damani Osei Sr. Santa Clara University Richmond, Va.
Ramzi Qawasmy GR5 Providence College Lansdale, Pa.
Alberto Suarez GR5 Saint Louis University Zaragosa, Spain
Bjarne Thiesen Jr. West Virginia University Kiel, Germany
Daniel Wu Jr. Georgetown University Cary, N.C.
Til Zinnhardt Sr. University of North Carolina Konigstein, Germany

*GR5 Indicates student-athletes exercising their extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19

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