FRISCO, TEXAS – Former FGCU men's soccer standout and 2015 Atlantic Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Guillen has signed a professional contract with Major League Soccer's FC Dallas as a homegrown player, adding to the program's quickly-ascending notoriety.
 
A native of El Paso, Texas, Guillen joined the FC Dallas Academy in 2011 and helped the U-18 side to the 2012 U-18 U.S. Soccer Development Academy National Championship. With his prior affiliation to FC Dallas, Guillen became eligible for a Homegrown Contract which allows teams to sign local products directly from their academy to their professional team.
 
During his career with FGCU, Guillen was named to the A-Sun All-Freshman Team and followed with three-consecutive A-Sun First Team selections. As a senior, Guillen – who graduated in December with a degree in business management – garnered NSCAA All-Southeast Second Team honors. He anchored a defensive unit that paced the conference in goals allowed (13 – nine fewer than any other team), goals against average (0.88 – 0.45 better than any other team) and shutouts (seven – two more than any other team). During conference matches, the Eagles scored 14 more goals than their opponents, allowing just one goal in A-Sun play.
 
"I'm very excited about being able to play professionally. I'm very thankful for all the coaches and staff members at FGCU who gave me the opportunity to be part of their family," Guillen said. "I will remain thankful for what FGCU did for me."
 
A dual citizen who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and attended Coronado High School in El Paso, Guillen will report to the Dallas suburb of Frisco to begin a six-week training camp on Saturday, Jan. 23, which will also take the team to Phoenix and Medellin, Colombia.
 
Guillen – who won a Premier Development League Championship with the Austin Aztex in 2013 – will be joining an FC Dallas squad which entered the MLS Cup Playoffs with the Western Conference's top seed last year. After defeating the Seattle Sounders in penalty kicks in the second game of a semifinal series which finished 3-3 on aggregate, FC Dallas fell a couple goals short of advancing to the MLS Cup Final in the conference final against the Portland Timbers.
 
Over the past four years, FGCU played 69 games, and Guillen appeared in 68 of them while starting 67 times. The central defender scored one goal while issuing four assists for six career points while rarely being subbed out of a contest. The past seasons have ranked as two of the top three campaigns in program history (since 2007) in terms of goals against average as this past year was the third-best at 0.88, and 2014 was the second-best at 0.71.
 
Guillen helped lead FGCU to A-Sun regular-season championships each of his four years with the Green and Blue, a pair of A-Sun Tournament titles and two berths in the NCAA Championship where they earned a 0-0 tie before failing to advance on penalty kicks at USF in 2012 and allowed a diving-header goal in the 86th minute in a 1-0 loss at Coastal Carolina in 2014. Guillen helped guide the Eagles to a record of 34-24-12 in his career, including a dominant 20-3-4 mark in conference games.
 
Guillen is the second member of FGCU's graduating class – with likely more to come – who have signed professional contracts, or are on the brink of doing so. This week, Rodrigo Saravia (Guatemala City, Guatemala/College Internacional Montessori) is one of a select group of Division-I players who will be participating in the 2016 adidas MLS Player Combine. All invited players are eligible for selection in the 2016 SuperDraft which will take place on Thursday, Jan. 14, in Baltimore.
 
"Both Aaron and Rodrigo came here and developed from good players to very good players," commented program-founding head coach Bob Butehorn. "It's a tribute to their hard work. Two years ago when we lost in the A-Sun Championship semifinals, I challenged the guys to see who would be the first one out of that group to make it to the pros, and now we already likely have two – and probably more to come – who took that challenge and went after it."
 
Guillen – at the present time – becomes the third FGCU product playing professionally, joining Cristian Raudales of FC Edmonton in the NASL (North American Soccer League) and Daniel Stanese of FC Augsburg II in Germany. Raudales graduated in 2011 and is still the program's all-time leader in points (43) and goals (19), while Stanese signed professionally in February of 2013 following his freshman season with Germany's top-tier Bundesliga for FC Nuremberg. Last January, Stanese became the program's first-ever product to make an appearance with his national team when he did so in an international friendly for Canada against Iceland.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU men's soccer program, follow on Twitter @FGCU_MSoccer, Instagram @FGCU_MSoccer, Facebook /FGCUMSoccer and YouTube /FGCUAthletics.
 
COACH BUTEHORN
FGCU is led by Bob Butehorn, who has coached 54 A-Sun All-Conference selections since FGCU started its program in 2007. In just four years of postseason eligibility, Butehorn has guided FGCU to three A-Sun Tournament championships and NCAA Tournament appearances – in 2011, 2012 and 2014 – and has won an unprecedented six-straight A-Sun regular-season championships. His teams have been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets. Now in his 13th season as a head coach, Butehorn has a 115-90-25 (.554) overall record, 81-58-21 (.572) mark in his 9th season at FGCU and 48-17-6 (.718) record in A-Sun contests.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.