2019 UCF Knights men's soccer team

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.

2019 UCF Knights men's soccer
AAC regular season champions
NCAA Tournament, Third Round
Conference	American Athletic Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 10
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 10
2019 record	15–3–2 (6–0–1 American)
Head coach	Scott Calabrese (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Paul Souders (4th season) Jamie Davies (2nd season)
Captains	Cal Jennings Richard Amon Yannik Oettl
Home stadium	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium

2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 UCF +	6	–	0	–	1			15	–	3	–	2
No. 7 SMU ‡	5	–	1	–	1			18	–	2	–	1
South Florida +	4	–	3	–	0			10	–	7	–	1
Memphis	4	–	3	–	0			10	–	7	–	0
Temple	3	–	2	–	2			8	–	8	–	2
UConn	2	–	5	–	0			5	–	12	–	1
Cincinnati	1	–	5	–	1			5	–	11	–	1
Tulsa	0	–	6	–	1			4	–	9	–	2
‡ – 2019 American Tournament champion + – Invited to the 2019 NCAA Tournament As of 17 December 2019; Rankings from United Soccer Coaches

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

Name	Nat.	Number	Position	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Andreas Steineger	NOR	2	DF	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190	Senior	Oslo, NOR	Graduated
Zachary Waitman	USA	5	DF	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	165	Senior	Montverde, FL	Graduated
Jonathan Dean	USA	6	MF	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	155	Senior	Macon, GA	Graduated
Gorka Aperribay	USA	9	FW	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185	Senior	Winter Springs, FL	Graduated
Walker Dawkins	USA	11	MF	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	135	RS-Senior	Royal Palm Beach, FL	Graduated
François André Dulysse	HAI	16	DF	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	173	Sophomore	West Palm Beach, FL	Transferred to Manhattan[1]
C. J. Campbell	USA	17	DF	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	150	Senior	Plantation, FL	Graduated
Max Stiegwardt	USA	19	MF	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	165	Senior	Plymouth, MN	Graduated
Ricardo Oliveros	VEN	22	MF	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	165	Senior	Weston, FL	Graduated
Noah Murphy	USA	23	FW	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	195	Senior	Austin, TX	Graduated
Matthew Rosenberg	USA	26	GK	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185	Junior	Manalapan, NJ	Transferred to Xavier

Incoming transfers

Name	Nat.	Number	Position	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Former School
Itzik Efraim	ISR	18	DF	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	189	Sophomore	Jerusalem, ISR	Belmont[2]
Glademir Mendoza	MEX	31	DF	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	150	RS-Freshman	Phoenix, AZ	New Mexico[3]

High school recruits

Name	Nat.	Hometown	High School	Club	TDS Rating
José Aldaco, Jr. FW	USA	Lake Alfred, FL	Auburndale	Weston FC	[4]
Bernardo Brandão GK	BRA	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	IMG Academy	N/A	[5]
Jeremy Di Lallo MF	CAN	Blainville, QC	Montverde Academy	Orlando City	[6]
Andrew Lizyness MF	USA	Windermere, FL	Olympia (FL)	Acys Spirit United	[7]
Josiah Ramírez MF	USA	Harrisburg, PA	Lower Dauphin	Penn FC	[8]
Jonas Schmalbäch FW	ITA	Venice, ITA	ESNR	Lausanne	NR
Gino Vivi FW	CRC	San José, CRC	CFIS	Saprissa	NR
Beto Ydrach MF	PUR	Orlando, FL	Olympia (FL)	Orlando City	[9]

Roster

As of September 26, 2019[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Yannik Oettl 3 FW  USA Cal Jennings 4 DF  USA Jack McCloskey 5 DF  CRC Andres Hernandez Betancur 6 DF  FRA Yanis Leerman 7 FW  GHA Richard Amon 8 MF  ISR Yoni Sorokin 9 FW  ITA Jonas Schmalbach 10 MF  FRA Louis Perez 11 FW  FRA Hattabiou Barry 12 MF  BRA Gregorio Ibanez 13 MF  USA Josiah Ramirez 14 MF  BRA Gianluca Arcangeli 15 DF  ENG Gideon Adu-Peprah

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  PUR Beto Ydrach 17 FW  CRC Gino Vivi 18 DF  ISR Itzik Efraim 19 MF  USA Andrew Lizyness 20 MF  CRC Mauricio Villalobos Vega 21 FW  USA Brandon Golding 22 MF  CAN Jeremy Di Lallo 23 MF  NOR Thomas Ness 24 DF  USA Jonathan Dean 25 GK  USA Matt Douglass 26 GK  BRA Bernardo Brandão 28 FW  ARG Franco Loello 29 FW  USA Jose Aldaco, Jr. 31 DF  MEX Glademir Mendoza

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic Director	Danny White
Head Coach	Scott Calabrese
Associate Head Coach	Paul Souders
Assistant Coach	Jamie Davies
Volunteer Goalkeeper Coach	Peter Davis

Schedule

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Preseason
August 19* 7:00 p.m.	No. 15	Eastern Florida	W 6–0		UCF Soccer and Track Stadium Orlando, FL
August 24* 6:00 p.m.	No. 15	FIU	W 3–1		UCF Soccer and Track Stadium Orlando, FL
Non-conference regular season
August 30* 6:00 p.m.	No. 15	at No. 4 Wake Forest Carolina Nike Classic	L 1–2	0–1–0	Spry Stadium (1,578) Winston-Salem, NC
September 1* 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 15	at No. 6 North Carolina Carolina Nike Classic	W 2–1	1–1–0	Fetzer Field (814) Chapel Hill, NC
September 6* 7:00 p.m., Twitch	No. 15	Penn State	T 2–2 ^2OT	1–1–1	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (706) Orlando, FL
September 8* 7:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 15	UTRGV	W 3–2 ^OT	2–1–1	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (362) Orlando, FL
September 13* 7:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 16	VCU	W 2–0	3–1–1	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (731) Orlando, FL
September 18* 7:00 p.m.	No. 13	at Florida Gulf Coast	W 4–1	4–1–1	FGCU Soccer Complex (653) Fort Myers, FL
September 22* 6:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 13	South Carolina	W 2–0	5–1–1	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (436) Orlando, FL
American Athletic regular season
September 27 7:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 12	Temple	W 2–0	6–1–1 (1–0–0)	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (605) Orlando, FL
October 1* 7:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 11	Florida Atlantic	W 3–2 ^OT	7–1–1	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (367) Orlando, FL
October 6 8:00 p.m., ADN	No. 11	at No. 4 SMU	T 3–3 ^2OT	7–1–2 (1–0–1)	Westcott Field (2,719) Dallas, TX
October 12 7:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 9	Tulsa	W 3–2 ^2OT	8–1–2 (2–0–1)	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (514) Orlando, FL
October 20 7:00 p.m., ADN	No. 11	at UConn Civil Conflict	W 2–1 ^OT	9–1–2 (3–0–1)	Dillon Stadium (1,625) Hartford, CT
October 26 7:00 p.m., ADN	No. 8	at South Florida War on I-4	W 1–0	10–1–2 (4–0–1)	Corbett Soccer Stadium (1,506) Tampa, FL
October 29* 6:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 8	Stetson	W 3–2 ^2OT	11–1–2	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (346) Orlando, FL
November 1 7:00 p.m., UCFKnights.tv	No. 6	Memphis	W 1–0	12–1–2 (5–0–1)	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (826) Orlando, FL
November 5 7:00 p.m., ADN	No. 6	at Cincinnati	W 3–2 ^OT	13–1–2 (6–0–1)	Gettler Stadium (373) Cincinnati, OH
AAC Tournament
November 13 7:00 p.m., FBL	(1) No. 5	(5) Temple Semifinals	W 5–0	14–1–2	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (711) Orlando, FL
November 16 7:00 p.m., ESPN3	(1) No. 5	(2) No. 10 SMU AAC Championship	L 0–1	14–2–2	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (1,237) Orlando, FL
NCAA Tournament
November 24 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	(9) No. 8	No. 12 Missouri State Second round	W 2–1 ^OT	15–2–2	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (857) Orlando, FL
November 30 8:30 p.m., ESPN+	(9) No. 8	at (8) No. 5 SMU Third round	L 1–2 ^OT	15–3–2	Westcott Field (979) Dallas, TX
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Cal Jennings	AAC Offensive Player of the Year	November 12, 2019	[11]
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	[12]
Yannik Oettl
Louis Perez
Gino Vivi
Cal Jennings	Soccer America All-America First-Team	December 12, 2019	[13]
Cal Jennings	United Soccer Coaches All-America First-Team		[14]
Cal Jennings	College Soccer News All-America First-Team	December 16, 2019	[15]
Cal Jennings	Top Drawer Soccer All-America First-Team	December 23, 2019	[16]
Yoni Sorokin	Top Drawer Soccer All-America Second-Team
Yanis Leerman

2020 MLS Super Draft

Main article: 2020 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Cal Jennings	FC Dallas	1	17	FW
Jonathan Dean	Orlando City	2	39	DF

Rankings

Main article: 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. NV=Not receiving votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Final
United Soccer[17]	15	None	15	16	13	12	11	9	11	8	6	6	5	8	None Released			10
Top Drawer Soccer[18]	17	17	11	19	17	14	9	3	3	6	4	4	3	8	8	10	10	10
College Soccer News[19]	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

1. "Manhattan Adds Two For 2019". Manhattan College Athletics. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
2. "UCF Adds Five for 2019". UCF Athletics. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
3. "University of Central Florida adds defender Glademir Mendoza as late transfer". SoccerWire. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
4. "Jose Aldaco". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
5. "Bernardo Brandao". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
6. "Jeremy DiLallo". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
7. "Andrew Lizyness". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
8. "Josiah Ramirez". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
9. "Roberto Ydrach". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
10. "2019 Men's Soccer Roster". ucfknights.com. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
11. "American Athletic Conference Announces 2019 Men's Soccer Awards". theamerican.org. The American Athletic Conference. November 12, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
12. "SMU Claims Third-Straight American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship Crown". theamerican.org. The American Athletic Conference. November 16, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
13. "Awards: NCAA Division I Men's All-America Team". Soccer America. December 12, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
14. "NCAA Division I Men's All-America Team Announced". unitedsoccercoaches.org. December 12, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
15. "College Soccer News 2019 All-America Teams". collegesoccernews.com. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
16. "2019 Men's Division I Postseason Awards". Top Drawer Soccer. December 23, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
17. "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
18. "College Soccer National Rankings". Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
19. "CSN Top 30 Polls". CollegeSoccerNews.com.

External links

• UCF Soccer