The 2018 men’s Division I season is in the books, as Maryland(m) rose to the top during the NCAA Tournament.

For his sensational season at left back, Andrew Gutman is the TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Year. Along with leading another stout defense, Gutman scored 11 goals and added nine assists. It’s rare that opposing teams game plan to stop a left back, and Gutman was still able to lead Indiana(m) to a remarkable season. Gutman edged a field that includes Denver forward Andre Shinyashiki, Kentucky(m)’s JJ Williams and Maryland(m) center back Donovan Pines.

Speaking of center backs, Akron(m) defender Carlo Ritaccio earns Freshman of the Year for 2018. Starting 22 of Akron’s 24 games, the New York native had little trouble adjusting to the high demands of the Zips’ playing style, helping the MAC side make it to the national title game.

At one point in the season, Maryland(m) was 4-5-3 and looked in danger of not making the NCAA tournament. Thanks to some tactical tweaks from TDS Coach of the Year Sasho Cirovski, the Terps finished the season with a 9-1-1 record and didn’t concede a goal in the tournament to win the program’s fourth national championship.

TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's Division I Postseason Awards

Player of the Year: Andrew Gutman, Indiana(m)

Freshman of the Year: Carlo Ritaccio, Akron(m)

Coach of the Year: Sasho Cirovski, Maryland(m)

Best XI Teams

First Team

F: JJ Williams (Kentucky(m)), Andre Shinyashiki (Denver), Cal Jennings (UCF)

M: Siad Haji (VCU), Tucker Bone (Air Force), Omir Fernandez (Wake Forest(m)), Giuseppe Barone (Michigan State(m))

D: Andrew Gutman (Indiana(m)), Donovan Pines (Maryland(m)), Tanner Beason (Stanford(m))

GK: Trey Muse (Indiana(m))

Second Team

F: Tate Schmitt (Louisville), Benji Michel (Portland(m)), Jack Hallahan (Michigan)

M: Bruno Lapa (Wake Forest(m)), Camden Riley (Pacific), Amar Sejdic (Maryland(m)), Mauricio Pineda (North Carolina(m))

D: Dylan Nealis (Georgetown(m)), Callum Montgomery (Charlotte), Alex Comsia (North Carolina(m))

GK: Remi Prieur (St. Mary's CA(m)) 

Third Team

F: David Egbo (Akron(m)), Jake Rudel (St. Mary's (CA)(m)), Griffin Dorsey (Indiana(m))

M: David Loera (NC State(m)), Brad Dunwell (Wake Forest(m)), Kalil Elmedkhar (Kentucky(m)), Joey Piatczyc (West Virginia)

D: Abdi Mohammed (Akron(m)), Patrick Nielsen (Michigan State(m)), Wouter Verstraaten (Pacific)

GK: James Pyle (North Carolina(m))

Freshmen Best XI

First Team

F: Gloire Amanda (Oregon State), Issa Rayyan (Duke(m)), Alex Willis (Northern Kentucky)

M: Sofiane Djeffal (Oregon State), William James Herve (Maryland(m)), Sebastian Schacht (St. Mary’s (CA)(m)), Ryan Raposo (Syracuse)

D: Carlo Ritaccio (Akron(m)), Aedan Stanley (Duke(m)), Jack Maher (Indiana(m))

GK: Andrew Thomas (Stanford(m))

Second Team

F: Trevor Martineau (Mercer), Aristotle Zarris (Wake Forest(m)), Zach Ryan (Stanford(m))

M: Jake Arteaga (Portland(m)), John Klein (Saint Louis), Frankie Amaya (UCLA), Colin Biros (Akron(m))

D: Yanis Leerman (UCF), Callum Stretch (Denver), Aboubacar Keita (Virginia)

GK: Paul Kruse (Creighton)

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