Manny Perez Named ACC Freshman of the Year

November 7, 2017

ACC Release

RALEIGH – Freshman Manny Perez of the NC State men's soccer team has been named the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Freshman of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday morning. The Garner, N.C., native is only the second NC State player in program history to be named ACC Freshman of the Year, joining Blas Cardozo in 1992.

Perez also earned places on the All-ACC Second Team as the only freshman on the squad and the All-Freshman Team. He is joined on the All-Freshman Team by classmate David Loera.

Perez currently leads the Wolfpack in goals scored (5), match-winning goals (3), and points (14). He ranks second on the team in assists (4). The freshman scored three goals in the first three matches of his college career, two of which were match-winners (Florida Atlantic, No. 3/5 Clemson). He then scored two goals, including the match winner, during NC State's 3-2 win at No. 5/9 Louisville on October 21. He was named the NCAA Player of the Week on Sept. 12 and earned TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week honors on Oct. 24. He also earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors on the same day.

Loera has been an integral piece of NC State's midfield so far this season, as he leads the team in assists (5) and has scored one goal. He has started all 17 matches of his debut season at NC State and has two multi-assist matches, distributing two helpers in wins over UNC Asheville (Sept. 26) and at No. 5/9 Louisville (Oct. 21).

NC State has enjoyed a very successful 2017 season to this point. The Wolfpack (8-5-4) has defeated two ACC squads ranked within the national top five and has collected four wins and three draws against teams currently in the RPI top 50. Of the team's five losses, three are to teams in the top 10 of the latest RPI and all five are to teams within the top 44. In head coach George Kiefer's debut season, the Wolfpack won three ACC matches for the first time since 2013, finished tied for seventh place in the ACC standings with Notre Dame despite a preseason prediction of 11th, and hosted a home ACC Tournament match for the first time in program history.

The Wolfpack will now await the decision of the NCAA Men's Soccer Selection Committee, which will publicly broadcast its bracket on Monday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. via a live video stream on NCAA.com.

#GoPack | @PackMensSoccer

Players Mentioned

David Loera

Manny Perez

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