ATLANTA – The ASUN Conference announced the 2023 Men's Soccer Preseason Awards on Thursday, as voted on by the league's head coaches. Lipscomb, who garnered seven first-place votes, was tabbed the top team entering the new season while also collecting two superlative awards.
FGCU earned one first-place nod and was selected second in the 2023 Preseason Coaches Poll followed by Central Arkansas in third. Stetson rounded out the top half of the rankings.
The Bisons' Hayes Wood, an All-ASUN First Team member a season ago, was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year while teammate Nick Dang earned Preseason Defensive Player of the Year following up his 2022 Unanimous Freshman of the Year honor. Bellarmine's Matthew Brozovich rounded out the superlative awards by earning Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
For the 12th straight year, the ASUN took to social media to poll the fans for the conference preseason superlative awards. North Florida's Bendeguz Burka was named the Fan-Voted Preseason Player of the Year. Alvaro Gabancho of Stetson earned the Fan-Voted Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Stetson's Nicolò Radaelli was selected as the Fan-Voted Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
Preseason Coaches Poll
Pl. Team (1st Place Votes) Points
1. Lipscomb (7) 63
2. FGCU (1) 53
3. Central Arkansas 47
4. Stetson 39
5. Bellarmine 30
6. North Florida 29
7. Jacksonville 14
8. Queens 13
2023 Men's Soccer Preseason All-ASUN Team
Goalkeeper
Matthew Brozovich, Gr., Bellarmine
Defenders
Brock Pope^, Jr., Bellarmine
Nick Dang^, So., Lipscomb
Kelvin Zinck, Sr., Stetson
Midfielders
Alon Drey, So., FGCU
Luca Naumann^, Sr., Lipscomb
Charles Ahl, Jr., Stetson
Andres Mata*, So., Stetson
Forwards
Malachi Jones^, So., Lipscomb
Tyrese Spicer, Sr., Lipscomb
Hayes Wood^, Gr., Lipscomb
* - denotes an at-large selection to the preseason team
^ - denotes a unanimous selection to the preseason Team