SIMA College Showcase standouts

College coaches flock to <a href="https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/high-school-soccer/team-profile/men/montverde-academy/tid-2499">Montverde Academy</a> (Fla.) nearly every fall to check out the latest prospects coming through this powerhouse program. This year’s SIMA College Showcase was a step back toward normalcy after not having the in-person event last year. On display were 65 of the top players at Montverde Academy, almost exclusively post-grads and seniors with only a handful of Class of 2023 and one Class of 2024 prospect. It’s easy to understand the attraction of college coaches to this Orlando-area academy considering in little more than a decade, SIMA has produced more than 150 NCAA Division I signees and more than 60 players have gone on to professional careers in the U.S. and abroad. With the showcase now complete, he’s our take on the top performers: <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="35604" first="Ali" last="Fadal"], Post-Grad (2022)</strong> Fadal was the top player at the SIMA College Showcase, and it’s possible he’ll never see the field in college soccer. Columbus Crew and LAFC are among he MLS teams showing an interest in the central midfielder. Fadal is a do-everything mid, able to be a box-to-box guy or a holding mid. He’s agile, quick and has great technical ability. While he’s not known as a finisher, he scored twice at the showcase, including a 25-yard blast. <strong>D [player_tooltip player_id="35611" first="Mohamed" last="Cisset"], Class of 2023</strong> Cisset has been at Montverde since his freshman year and after being moved from the midfield to center back, he’s been a breakout performer. He has great ability with the ball, he’s strong and competitive. Factor in that he’s a talented left-foot center back, and major college offers are in his future. <strong>M/D [player_tooltip player_id="35600" first="Gustavo" last="Barbosa"], Post-Grad (2022)</strong> Barbosa is an attacking midfielder who is equally competent playing left back. He had a strong showcase performance and is garnering a lot of NCAA Division I interest. Part of the interest comes in the fact that Barbosa is a post-grad who can leave Montverde Academy at the end of the semester and start college in time for the spring semester. <strong>GK [player_tooltip player_id="35607" first="Joseph" last="Andema"], Class of 2022</strong> Andema compares favorably to many of the great goalkeepers to come out of Montverde Academy. He’s an athletic shot-stopper who is great with the ball at his feet and excellent in his distributions. The only downside, he’s not as tall as recent Montverde keepers, which might limit is side-to-side range. Even so, several major colleges are interested in Andema, including the defending NCAA Division I champion. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="35601" first="Misei" last="Yoshizawa"], Class of 2022</strong> Yoshizawa is a gifted attacking player from Japan who is receiving interest from several Top 25 programs. He’s a quick and versatile left-footed player. He can play center mid or wing — on either side. He’s a good dribbler but even better finisher. <strong>D [player_tooltip player_id="35603" first="Marcus" last="Cella"], Class of 2022</strong> Cella is a local product who started in the program at the U15 level with Orlando City’s academy team when SIMA ran the club’s youth teams. Cella is a strong central defender who does well in 1v1 situations. He also plays the ball out of the back very effectively. <strong>F [player_tooltip player_id="35612" first="Stephen" last="Annor"], Class of 2023</strong> Annor scored an impressive goal during the Friday, Nov. 12, match and he was clearly one of the top two or three juniors at the event. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="35602" first="Owen" last="Lucey"], Post-Grad (2022)</strong> Basically a local product since he’s from the Tampa, Lucey joined Montverde to increase his profile following a four-year high school varsity career at Newsome (Fla.). He is receiving interest from several of the Southeast Division I programs and could commit soon and be a mid-year college enrollee. <strong>W [player_tooltip player_id="35613" first="Alfred" last="Baafi"], Class of 2023</strong> Baafi is a winger with a lot of pace. He will be among the mostly heavily courted Class of 2023 prospects at Montverde Academy next year. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="35605" first="Haya" last="Yoshizawa"], Post-Grad (2022)</strong> The older brother to [player_tooltip player_id="35601" first="Misei" last="Yoshizawa"], is clean and technical. Ball possession is his strength. He had a solid showcase showing. <strong>D [player_tooltip player_id="35606" first="David" last="Murar"], Class of 2022</strong> Murar, from Slovakia, showed up at Montverde Academy as an unknown in August. Now, he’s one of the program’s top performers. He’s a central defender. <strong>OTHERS TO NOTE</strong> Given the delay in recruiting for the 2022 class, this year’s Showcase focused more heavily on that group, as opposed to past years where more underclassmen were involved. Only 56 field players and 10 keepers were rostered for the event, but six were sidelined by injury. While we highlighted the top 11 performers above, here are others to know: <strong>GK [player_tooltip player_id="35608" first="Aecio" last="Da Fonte"], Class of 2022</strong>: Still making his way back from knee surgery, Da Fonte will be a player to watch by this spring’s showcase. <strong>D [player_tooltip player_id="10377" first="Shawn" last="Smart"], Class of 2022</strong>: The Clemson commit would have been a featured player had he not been held out due to a nagging injury. Smart, whose older sister starred with the Montverde girls program and is at Wake Forest, has been an impact player at Montverde ever since showing up at the school as a freshman. <strong>D/M [player_tooltip player_id="10161" first="Marc" last="Chin"], Class of 2022</strong>: Along with Smart, Chin is the only other committed Montverde Academy player, pledging to Syracuse. Montverde tends not to hurry its players into verbals. Chin has been a standout with the high school team so far this season. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="35614" first="Wesley" last="Siegel"], Class of 2024</strong>: The lone Class of 2024 player at the event, Siegel showed well enough for college coaches to take notice already. <strong>GK [player_tooltip player_id="35609" first="Zander" last="Bates"], Class of 2022</strong>: Bates had a strong Showcase performance and the highly academic student is attracting interest from Ivy League and similar academic-based programs. &nbsp;