Jony Muñoz

Jony Muñoz
Personal information
Full name Jony Muñoz
Date of birth (2001-11-08) November 8, 2001 (age 23)
Place of birth Olathe, Kansas
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers
Number 10
Youth career
2015–2018 Sporting Kansas City
2018–2020 Toca FC
2018–2020 Olathe West Owls
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020–2021 Liberty Flames 0 (0)
2021 Kansas City Roos 20 (8)
2022– MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers 39 (17)

Jony Muñoz (born November 8, 2001) is an American college soccer player who currently plays for the MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers men's soccer program in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Muñoz is the 2020 recipient of the Gatorade Boys' Soccer Player of the Year Award, a national honor recognizing the best high school soccer player in the United States. After graduating from high school, Muñoz played two seasons of NCAA Division I soccer: one with Liberty University and one with University of Missouri–Kansas City, before transferring to NAIA.

Growing up, Muñoz played high school soccer for Olathe West High School and for the youth academy teams of Toca FC and Sporting Kansas City.

Career

High school and academy

Muñoz played club soccer for Sporting Kansas City's Academy during his freshman and sophomore years of high school, before playing high school soccer for Olathe West during his junior and senior years.[1] Muñoz, a devout Christian, said the choice was "a God-led decision", which helped him have a more balanced life.[1] During his senior year of high school, Muñoz lead the Owls to a 20–1–0 record, and Kansas Class 6A State Championship, Olathe West's first ever state championship in a team sport.[1] Muñoz played in all 21 matches, scoring 36 goals and dishing out 19 assists his senior year of high school.[1] While in high school, Munoz also played club soccer for Toca FC in the Kansas City metropolitan area.[2]

On June 17, 2020, Muñoz was awarded Gatorade Boys' Soccer Player of the Year Award for the top boys' soccer player in the country.[3][4] He is the first soccer player from the state of Kansas to win the honor.[5][6] He was also named the Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year (2020).[7]

College

Pending developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, Muñoz was scheduled to begin playing college soccer for Liberty University ahead of the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season.[7] However, Muñoz transferred to University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) ahead of the spring portion of the 2020 season. During his freshman year with UMKC, Muñoz made fourteen appearances, scoring six times, earning third team Freshman All-American honors by College Soccer News.[8]

After a single season with UMKC, Muñoz transferred to NAIA school, MidAmerica Nazarene University for the 2022 and 2023 NAIA men's soccer seasons, winning the NAIA National Championship in 2023.[9] At MidAmerica Nazarene, Muñoz made 39 appearances, tallying 17 goals.[10]

Personal life

Muñoz is a devout Christian and plays guitar in his church's worship band.[11] With his church, he went on a week-long mission trip to Mexico.[11]

Honors

Individual

  • Gatorade Boys' Soccer National Player of the Year Award: 2020
  • Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year Award: 2020

Team

  • Olathe West High School
    • Kansas 6A Boys State High School Soccer Champions: 2019

References

  1. ^ a b c d Clark, Travis (June 22, 2020). "Step of faith leads Munoz to PotY". TopDrawer Soccer. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  2. ^ "Current Toca FC Player, Jony Munoz, Named Gatorade National Player of the Year". tocafc.org. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  3. ^ Coleman, Madeline (June 23, 2020). "Jony Muñoz Named Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  4. ^ "Munoz named Gatorade Player of the Year". TopDrawer Soccer. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  5. ^ Kovzan, Sam (June 18, 2020). "Former Sporting KC Academy member Jony Munoz named Gatorade National Player of the Year". SportingKC.com. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  6. ^ Goodwin, Shaun (June 19, 2020). "Surprise! Olathe West soccer star receives elite national award via secret presentation". Kansas City Star. kansascity.com. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Oberholtz, Chris (June 18, 2020). "Olathe West's Jony Munoz named National Gatorade Player of the Year". Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  8. ^ "2020 College Soccer News Men's All-Freshman Teams". collegesoccernews.com. May 27, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  9. ^ "National Champions". MidAmerica Nazarene. December 4, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  10. ^ "Jony Munoz - Soccer - Stats". mnusports.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  11. ^ a b @DMVSoccer96 (June 26, 2020). "@jonymunozz (53 career goals and 28 assists) helped @MattTrumpp (20-1) win the 6A Kansas State Championship with a goal and assist in the final, a 2-1 win! Munoz was also named the MVP of the High School All-American game this past December" (Tweet) – via Twitter.