GREENSBORO, N.C. (TheACC.com) – Highlighted by eight first-round selections, 14 ACC men’s soccer players were picked in the first two rounds of the 2020 Major League Soccer SuperDraft on Thursday. The eight first-round selections matched the ACC’s league record, also set in 2016 and 2018, and were twice as many as any other conference.
 
Clemson forward Robbie Robinson was selected No. 1 overall by the expansion Inter Miami FC. The 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy winner, Robinson became the first ACC player to be selected No. 1 overall since Wake Forest’s Jack Harrison in 2016 and the seventh from a current ACC program.
 
In all, ACC players represented eight of the top 19 picks, while the conference’s four players who signed Generation adidas players contracts each were selected among the draft’s top six: Robinson, Syracuse’s Ryan Raposo (4th, Vancouver) and Virginia’s Daryl Dike (5th, Orlando City) and Henry Kessler (6th, New England). North Carolina’s Jeremy Kelly (9th, Montreal), Wake Forest’s Alistair Johnston (11th, Nashville SC), Louisville’s Cherif Dieye (15th, New York Red Bulls) and Syracuse’s Nyal Higgins (19th, Toronto FC) also were picked in the first round.
 
Six ACC players were chosen in the second round: North Carolina’s Jack Skahan (27th overall, San Jose), Clemson’s Tanner Dieterich (28th, Nashville SC), Wake Forest’s Joey DeZart (31st, Orlando City), Clemson’s Malick Mbaye (33rd, Toronto FC), Virginia’s Robin Afamefuna (37th, Colorado) and Notre Dame’s Felicien Dumas (48th, New York City FC).
 
Seven ACC schools had players selected in the first two rounds Thursday. The third and fourth rounds of the 2020 SuperDraft will be held via conference call on Monday, Jan. 13.
 
ACC in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft
Round 1
1. Inter Miami FC – Robbie Robinson, F, Clemson
4. Vancouver – Ryan Raposo, M, Syracuse
5. Orlando City – Daryl Dike, F, Virginia
6. New England – Henry Kessler, D, Virginia
9. Montreal – Jeremy Kelly, D, North Carolina (selection then traded to Colorado)
11. Nashville SC – Alistair Johnston, D, Wake Forest
15. New York Red Bulls – Cherif Dieye, M, Louisville
19. Toronto FC – Nyal Higgins, D, Syracuse
 
Round 2
27. San Jose – Jack Skahan, Defender, North Carolina
28. Nashville SC – Tanner Dieterich, Midfielder, Clemson
31. Orlando City – Joey DeZart, Midfielder, Wake Forest
33. Toronto FC – Malick Mbaye, Defender, Clemson
37. Colorado – Robin Afamefuna, Defender, Virginia
48. New York City FC – Felicien Dumas, Defender, Notre Dame