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