American Athletic Conference Announces 2023 Men’s Soccer Honors

IRVING, Texas – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winners of its 2023 men’s soccer honors, as chosen by the league coaches.

The American regular season champion SMU Mustangs took home five of the six major awards. Mads Westergren was named American Defensive Player of the Year, Bailey Sparks was named American Midfielder of the Year, Cole Johnson was named American Goalkeeper of the Year, Niv Berkovitz was named American Freshman of the Year and the SMU coaching staffed earned the American Coaching Staff of the Year. Memphis’ Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos was named the American Offensive Player of the Year.

Rodrigues dos Santos becomes the first Tiger to earn the American Offensive Player of the Year honor. He leads the league with 12 goals and 28 points and leads all players nationally with seven game-winning goals.

Westergren becomes the third Mustang to win American Defensive Player of the Year (Eddie Munjoma, 2019; Jordan Cano (2017). Westergren averaged 88 minutes per match and helped anchor the top-ranked defense in The American as the Mustangs allowed five goals in conference play.

Sparks earned the Mustang’s second straight Midfielder of the Year honor and their sixth overall. Sparks ranks third in The American with five assists and averaged 81.2 minutes while starting all 15 games for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs added Goalkeeper of the Year, as well, as Johnson becomes the second Mustang to earn the award (Michael Nelson; 2014, 2015, 2016). He led The American in save percentage (.767), goals-against average (0.68) and finished with a league-high seven shutouts.

Berkovitz becomes the third Mustang (second straight) to win American Rookie of the Year, joining teammate Alexander Petraeus from a season ago. Berkovitz is SMU’s second-leading scorer entering the postseason with five goals and an assist for 11 points.

SMU head coach Kevin Hudson and his staff were tabbed American Coaching Staff of the Year, marking the third time that the Mustangs have earned the honor. The Mustangs finished the regular season with an 11-1-2 overall record, a 7-0-1 mark in conference play and were ranked No. 3 nationally in the Oct. 31 United Soccer Coaches poll. SMU has amassed six wins against RPI Top 100 teams this season.

Memphis earned the Team Fair Play Award for having the lowest amount of fouls, yellow cards and red cards. It is the first time the Tigers have earned the award.

The Mustangs led the league with four first team all-conference selections, while Charlotte, Memphis and South Florida each had two. Two student-athletes were unanimously selected to the first team – Rodrigues dos Santos and SMU graduate forward Jelldrik Dallmann. Westergren was the lone repeat member as a first team all-conference selection.

UAB, Memphis and SMU each had two All-Rookie selections. Seven members were unanimous selections – Charlotte’s Natsuki Ogata, Florida Atlantic’s Oliver Moller-Jensen, Memphis’ Giorgos Kondylis and Dino Starvros, South Florida’s Pedro Faife, SMU’s Alex Salvo and Tulsa’s Jared Aguilar.

2023 American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Awards

Offensive Player of the Year

Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos, Jr., F, Memphis

Defensive Player of the Year

Mads Westergren, Jr., SMU

Midfielder of the Year

Bailey Sparks, Jr., SMU

Goalkeeper of the Year

Cole Johnson, Sr., SMU

Rookie of the Year

Niv Berkovitz, M, SMU

Coaching Staff of the Year