ATLANTA – FGCU men's soccer heads into the 2021 spring season as the favorite, collecting 45 points and five first-place votes.

O'Vonte Mullings was tabbed as the unanimous Preseason Player of the Year, Gustavo Vasconcelos was named the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, while Titouan Le Menec made the list as one of three defenders.  

"We want to always try to be forward-thinking and not put too much hype and stock into preseason awards; it's all about seeding in the past," said head coach Jesse Cormier. "It's great at stroking fragile egos, giving us a false sense of security, and it can poison a team's culture and preparation. I believe in respect for our opponents, and the reality that our daily actions and training habits to reach our team's highest potential on what we need to focus on. What's critical is what we do today and tomorrow, not what happened yesterday, last fall, or last year."

Mullings (Toronto, Ontario/Northview Heights Secondary HS), a back-to-back ASUN First Team member, led the Eagles in 2019 with 20 points, scoring nine goals while dishing out two assists. He netted three game-winners and logged over 1,600 minutes in 19 games.

In 10 games (all starts) in 2019, Vasconcelos (Recife, Brazil/Colegio GGE) recorded 36 saves with nearly 900 minutes in between the pipes before an injury cut his season short. In 2018, he was named the ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year.
 
Le Menec (Guipavas, France/Bluefield College) has appeared in 34 games for the Eagles in two seasons, accumulating 31 starts with nearly 3,000 minutes on the FGCU backline. Primarily as a right-winger in 2019, he's recorded three assists in his time here as a defender, most recently in the 2019 ASUN Championship. That season, the France native started all 18 matches, playing the full 90-plus minutes 14 times.

2020-21 ASUN Conference Men's Soccer Preseason Honors & Awards
Preseason Player of the Year: O'Vonte Mullings, FGCU
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Noah Gulden, Lipscomb
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: Gustavo Vasconcelos, FGCU

Preseason All-Conference Team

Pos.	Name	School	Class
GK	Gustavo Vasconcelos	FGCU	Sr.
*D	Noah Gulden	Lipscomb	Jr.
D	Titouan Le Menec	FGCU	Sr.
D	LJ Estes	UNF	Sr.
MF	Micah Linscott	Bellarmine	Sr.
MF	Connor Lufkin	Jacksonville	Sr.
MF	Seth Clark	Liberty	So.
MF	William Suat	Stetson	Sr.
* F	O'Vonte Mullings	FGCU	Jr.
*F	Lewis Scattergood	Stetson	So.
F	Reed Davis	Jacksonville	So.

* - Unanimous selection

Preseason Coaches' Poll

Place	Team (First-Place Votes)	Points
1.	FGCU (5)	45
2.	Lipscomb (1)	39
3.	UNF	33
4.	Stetson	26
5.	Jacksonville (1)	22
6.	Liberty	21
7.	Bellarmine	10

 
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.

HEAD COACH JESSE CORMIER
Jesse Cormier is in his fourth year as head coach of the FGCU men's soccer program after being hired in January of 2017 to become just the 2nd head coach in program history. Cormier has guided FGCU to a 26-19-7 (.567) record overall, including a 13-3-2 mark (.778) in ASUN play. The Eagles have reached the ASUN Tournament semifinals for nine-straight seasons (every year of eligibility), as Cormier has coached 23 all-conference selections since his arrival (program-record 10 in 2017). Cormier was the head coach at his alma mater the University of Vermont for the previous 13 seasons. He won 14 games with the Catamounts in 2016 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round. During his time with Vermont, Cormier guided the program to the America East Tournament in 12 of 13 seasons, making five title game appearances, winning two tournament crowns, claiming a regular-season championship and advancing to three NCAA tournaments, including a pair of Second Round appearances. Cormier holds an overall 140-108-54 (.553) record as a head coach in his fifteen-plus seasons at the helm.

#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.