TopDrawerSoccer picks Diouf as 1st freshman National POY

Match night after match night since August, Grand Canyon freshman Junior Diouf walked the GCU Stadium corridor from the locker room to the field and stacked breathtaking plays that created the most memorable player highlight reel in Lopes men's soccer history.

One last nighttime visit to the stadium encapsulated the magical run when Diouf turned a corner inside the empty stadium to the surprise greeting of TopDrawerSoccer representatives, who announced to Diouf that he had won the soccer site's National Player of the Year award.

Junior Diouf POY trophy

Diouf, who leads the nation in goals at 18 years old, became the first freshman to ever win TopDrawerSoccer's top player award.

"This means a lot for me," Diouf said. "We worked so hard for this, and this motivates me to work harder. It's just starting. It's just the beginning."

Leading GCU's nation-best, nine-win improvement, Diouf scored a nation-leading 18 goals in 21 matches for the Lopes' WAC Tournament champions and NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team. The Senegal native registered more goals individually than 45 teams did this season.

"We've never seen that level of highlight tape," TopDrawerSoccer analyst Victor Olorunfemi said of Diouf's play at GCU. "It was ridiculous. A lot of players score goals. He's beating two, three, four players and scoring goals. When you're able to do that and combine that with the statistical accomplishments he did, it was honestly insanely difficult to imagine anyone else winning the award."

Diouf, also a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy, could become the first freshman to lead Division I in scoring since 1997 once this season's College Cup is complete.

Seven of Diouf's goals were game-winners for GCU, and he also added six assists to share the national points lead at 42 with Indiana senior Palmer Ault and Georgetown senior Zach Zengue.

"In the beginning of the season, they didn't care too much about me," Diouf said. "When I started scoring, they started putting two players on me, so I've got to move the ball and pass to my teammates so they can score too."

Junior Diouf

The Lopes' 6-foot-1 striker scored uniquely, dancing along the goal line with immaculate ball and body control, dropping defenders to the pitch with mesmerizing one-on-one moves, using technical nuances to fool goalkeepers and blasting by defenders with speed and/or power.

"Some of the tape on him this season looked like you grabbed a professional and brought him down, like those clips where they disguise a guy and send him back to college," Olorunfemi said. "It was truly remarkable to see what he did this season.

"The combination of technical ability, speed and strength that he has, you can't really find. A lot of players are strong, but they're not very technical. A lot of players are fast, but they can't dribble at speed. He's running at full speed, changing direction, cutting past players and, on top of that, slows down in front of the goalkeeper and executes a perfect chip. Those players are one in a million, honestly. They're impossible to find."

Diouf was well regarded entering GCU from prep powerhouse St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey, where he made a 40-yard overtime goal to win the state championship. Coming off an injury and rounding into shape, Diouf did not start the Lopes' season opener but substituted and scored the match's tying goal in the 81st minute and the game-winning goal in the 90th minute.

Junior Diouf

It marked the first of Diouf's five braces that created a national buzz.

"This was not the goal," Diouf said of the National Player of the Year award. "The goal was to win the WAC Tournament, and we did, and then I pushed a lot in the NCAA Tournament.

"I didn't look at that. I was too focused about the chemistry of the team, the way we were playing and things like that. But not the Player of the Year trophy."

Diouf's favorite goal came at the WAC Tournament in November, when he scored the second of two GCU goals in a 24-second span of the Lopes' 2-1 championship win against San José State.

He is partial to that goal because his team won the tourney championship and earned the program's fourth NCAA Division I Tournament berth since 2018. Diouf said he was driven by the GCU teammates who had not won a WAC title and the place that lifted his soccer status. His instant legacy was part of the Lopes' deepest NCAA Tournament run with wins at UCLA and San Diego.

"GCU has completely changed my life," Diouf said. "Right before I came to GCU, I was just about to sign a contract to go straight to pros. GCU gave me the opportunity to come to school, and I'm grateful."

Junior Diouf takes the crown as the 2025 TopDrawerSoccer Men's College Player of the Year! 👑 pic.twitter.com/NfGWCrDlDN
— TopDrawerSoccer (@TopDrawerSoccer) December 10, 2025

Grand Canyon University Athletics

TopDrawerSoccer picks Diouf as 1st freshman National POY

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