The 2019 UCF Knights men's soccer team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season and the 2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season. The regular season began on August 30 and concluded on November 5. It was the program's 44th season fielding a men's varsity soccer team, and their 7th season in the AAC. The 2019 season was Scott Calabrese's third year as head coach for the program.
UCF finished the season with a 15–3–2 overall record and a 6–0–1 conference record, best in the AAC. The Knights advanced to the finals of the AAC Tournament where they fell to SMU for the third consecutive year. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the third round where they were defeated by SMU.
Background
The Knights are coming off a 13–3–3 season where they finished 5–1–1 in AAC play, earning them their first American Athletic Conference regular season title. In the 2018 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, UCF lost to SMU in penalty kicks, 4–5 after a 1–1 draw in regulation and extra time. UCF earned an at-large berth into the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, where they were one of the 16 seeded teams (out of 48 teams total) given the 14 seed. It was UCF's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011. With the seed, they earned a bye into the second round where they hosted the winner of Washington and Lipscomb. Lipscomb beat Washington in penalties, and also ended up beating the Knights in overtime, thus ending the season for UCF.
Junior striker, Cal Jennings, lead UCF in goals and assists for 2018 and was named a consensus All-American with Top Drawer Soccer, Soccer America, United Soccer Coaches, and CollegeSoccerNews.com all naming him as a first-team All-American.
Player movement Departures 2 190 Oslo, NOR Graduated 5 165 Montverde, FL Graduated 6 155 Macon, GA Graduated 9 185 Winter Springs, FL Graduated 11 135 Royal Palm Beach, FL Graduated 16 173 West Palm Beach, FL Transferred to Manhattan 17 150 Plantation, FL Graduated 19 165 Plymouth, MN Graduated 22 165 Weston, FL Graduated 23 195 Austin, TX Graduated 26 185 Manalapan, NJ Transferred to Xavier
Incoming transfers 18 189 Jerusalem, ISR Belmont 31 150 Phoenix, AZ New Mexico
High school recruits Lake Alfred, FLAuburndaleWeston FC Rio de Janeiro, BRAIMG Academy Blainville, QCMontverde AcademyOrlando City Windermere, FLOlympia (FL)Acys Spirit United Harrisburg, PALower DauphinPenn FC Venice, ITAESNRLausanne NR San José, CRCCFISSaprissa NR Orlando, FLOlympia (FL)Orlando City
Roster
Team management Athletic Director Danny White Head coach Scott Calabrese Associate Head Coach Paul Souders Assistant Coach Jamie Davies Volunteer Goalkeeper Coach Peter Davis
Schedule
!colspan=6 style=""| Preseason
!colspan=6 style=""| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=6 style=""| American Athletic regular season
!colspan=6 style=""| AAC Tournament
!colspan=6 style=""| NCAA Tournament
Awards and honors
Cal Jennings AAC Offensive Player of the Year November 12, 2019 Yoni Sorokin AAC Midfielder of the Year Yannik Oettl AAC Goalkeeper of the Year Gino Vivi AAC Rookie of the Year Scott Calabrese AAC Coaching Staff of the Year Yannik Oettl All-AAC First Team Cal Jennings Yoni Sorokin Yanis Leerman Louis Perez All-AAC Second Team Glademir Mendoza All-AAC Rookie Team Gino Vivi Cal Jennings AAC All-Tournament Team November 16, 2019 Yannik Oettl Louis Perez Gino Vivi Cal Jennings Soccer America All-America First-Team December 12, 2019 Cal Jennings United Soccer Coaches All-America First-Team Cal Jennings College Soccer News All-America First-Team December 16, 2019 Cal Jennings Top Drawer Soccer All-America First-Team December 23, 2019 Yoni Sorokin Top Drawer Soccer All-America Second-Team Yanis Leerman
2020 MLS Super Draft
Cal Jennings FC Dallas 1 17 FW Jonathan Dean Orlando City 2 39 DF
Rankings
+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. NV=Not receiving votes. PollPre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Final United Soccer 15 None 15 16 13 12 11 9 11 8 6 6 5 8 None Released 10 Top Drawer Soccer 17 17 11 19 17 14 9 3 3 6 4 4 3 8 8 10 10 10 College Soccer News 18 None 17 19 18 12 11 11 12 10 9 9 8 8 None Released 10 Soccer America 13 None 9 12 9 7 6 7 6 6 5 5 4 8 None Released
References
External links UCF Soccer