Everything You Need to Know About the 2024 UCF Men’s Soccer Team (2024)

The UCF Knights Men’s Soccer team added another contender for the Sun Belt Conference title in 2023.

The Knights had the makings of a historic season, but a losing streak in the late stages brought their season to an unexpected early end.

Beginning on Aug. 22, UCF will once again embark on a path to reach the top, arguably an even tougher one than before.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Listen to Eric and Bryson’s preview episode on the KnightShift Podcast:

10-4-2 (6-2-1 Sun Belt), 2nd in Sun Belt

Lost in Sun Belt Quarterfinals

Lost in NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

Since the Big 12 did not sponsor Men’s Soccer, the program began its new era of conference membership with the Sun Belt, a reunion with a conference UCF (men’s soccer included) was a part of for one season (1991).

The Knights made an impression straight away, defeating the eventual national champion Clemson in their season-opener. Draws against #11 FIU and #4 West Virginia and a strong showing on the road against #1 Marshall, despite a loss, helped them climb the rankings and become the first UCF program to attain a #1 ranking on Oct. 24.

However, their momentum came to a grounding halt at the end of the season, falling in their final three matches. A historical season to be sure, but it left a bittersweet taste.

Picked 3rd in the Sun Belt Coaches Poll

Ranked #19 in United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll

The Sun Belt proved itself as one of the top leagues in college soccer in 2023, with half of the conference’s ten teams earning bids into the NCAA Tournament. Those five comprise the top five of the conference’s preseason ranking.

Additionally, four of the five programs earned spots on the United Soccer Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 poll to start the season, with the Knights getting the #19 spot right behind James Madison.

UCF will be looking to finish the job they started in 2023, a task made easier by the return of two key players from that squad for fifth seasons. However, unlike in 2023, it will have a national spotlight on it from the outset.

Scott Calabrese — 8th season at UCF

Photo: Derek Warden

Despite the way 2023 ended, Scott Calabrese took a team that went 6-7 in 2022 and transformed it into a team that could reach the #1 ranking the very next season.

Despite an early exit, it was still Calabrese’s fourth time taking the Knights to the NCAA Tournament, meaning he has taken the Knights to the NCAA Tournament in more than half of his seasons at the helm.

“So, you sit there and you say, ‘Okay, we reached this really high level. Now, how do we make sure we’re at this same high level at the end of the season?’” Calabrese said. “I think there’s lessons for players in that, I think there’s lessons for coaches in that, and so we have to make sure that when we hit the real business end of the season that we’re at our best.”

Watch or listen to Coach Calabrese’s full Media Day Press Conference below:

Depth

The Knights played their exhibition match against Stetson in a format that allowed every player to get on the pitch for roughly 70 minutes. During the last period in this scrimmage, the Knights put up two goals and kept the Hatters scoreless as they had been all match.

Injuries of any kind can wreak havoc on a soccer team, so having quality depth will be important during the latter portions of the season. It will be interesting to see how many substitutions Calabrese will use for every match.

Turning over the Back Line

Anderson Rosa and Timothy Arias are the only two returning defenders to the team that played for over 600 minutes on the pitch. Calabrese recruited the position group hard, with half of the Knights’ eight newcomers being defenders, with three transfer portal acquisitions and one international signee.

However, Calabrese also touted the returners to the back line, which did not see as much playing time on a per-match basis.

“I think our back line is going to be a big strength of ours,” Calabrese said. “I think we have a number of players who areexperienced. We can put a back line out right now of guys who were all here last year and it could be, in my opinion, one of the best back lines in the country.”

Whether it’s with returners getting more playing time or with newcomers, a new group of defenders will have to gel together regardless for UCF to have success on par with last season.

Don’t Slack in the Back Half

The Knights may have been the #1 team in the nation in the latter stages of the 2023 season, but that just emboldenedtheir opponents all the more. Even before their loss to James Madison, the Knights were showing signs of vulnerability in when they had to escape a pair of road matches against a 4-6-3 South Carolina and a 5-5-5 Georgia State.

The moral of the story? Take care of business. From the standpoint of 2023’s final RPI standings, the Knights’ last three opponents all finished with RPIs higher than 90, and two of them will be played on the road.

UCF cannot repeat the same mistakes it did last season if it wants to see better fortunes.

#9 Lucca Dourado - Forward

Ever since his breakout season in 2021, Dourado has proven a scoring machine for the Knights. Despite a down season for him in shooting percentage, he still led the team with nine goals in 2023 on the way to All-Sun Belt First Team and All-Southeast Region First Team honors. He now sits at 37 goals for his career, the sixth-most in program history, which has helped him reach seventh in program history in career points (80).

While he will statistically be chasing some of the great offensive players in UCF history,

Dourado was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team by the conference’s head coaches.

#6 Anderson Rosa - Defender

Despite getting drafted with the 14th pick of the second round in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft by the Colorado Rapids, Rosa is back with the Knights for his fifth season because he said he had “unfinished business” from 2023. Namely, not winning any titles.

“I feel like I still owe UCF a little bit more,” Rosa said. “I still have more to give to the school.”

He was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team and All-Southeast Region Second Team after playing 1,457 minutes, scoring three goals, and earning one assist in 2023.

The coaches of the Sun Belt did not forget this, as they named Rosa the conference’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.

#10 Clarence Awoudor - Forward

Awoudor arrived at UCF from Oregon State in 2023 and made a triple threat on the attack with Dourado and Emmanuel Bam. He scored four goals and earned four assists, tied for the team lead with Bam and AJ Seals.

His efforts were rewarded with the Sun Belt’s Newcomer of the Year honor.

#31 Juanvi Munoz - Goalkeeper

The Valencia, Spain native is back for his third season in Orlando in 2024.

While turned in 47 saves in 2023, just one less than in 2022, he took his goals-against-average down from 1.462 to 1.134. If Munoz puts on a similar season in 2024, he will be in the mix to reach the Top 10 in program history in saves.

#2 Zane Bubb - Defender

Bubb did not have much of a chance to shine after an injury cut his 2022 season short after transferring to UCF from Virginia Tech.

He took his second chance in 2023 and ran with it, playing 1,283 minutes, scoring two goals, and earning All-Sun Belt First Team Honors.

He also nearly had a play-of-the-year moment when he surprised Marshall goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta in the last seconds of the Knights’ match with the #1-ranked Thundering Herd, tackling the ball away and finding AJ Seals to seemingly tie the match. However, it ended up being ruled an illegal tackle because Bubb stepped out of bounds before he made his move.

He signed with the USL Championship’s Tampa Bay Rowdies in March 2024.

#15 Saku Heiskanen - Midfielder

Heiskanen made quite the first impression by getting a goal and an assist in his collegiate debut, UCF’s 2-1 victory over eventual national-champion Clemson.

He ended up playing 1,044 minutes in 2023, totalling five goals, the second-most on the team, and two assists. He was awarded All-Sun Belt Second Team honors and was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year.

This performance caught the attention of IF Gnistan, a club in Veikkausliiga, the premier soccer league in Heiskanen’s native Finland, based in a suburb of the nation’s capital, Helsinki. The club signed Heiskanen in January. As of the writing of this article, Heiskanen has played 1,554 minutes in the club’s 2024 season, even scoring two goals.

#24 AJ Seals - Midfielder

Seals started all 16 matches for the Knights in 2023, totaling 1,446 minutes, getting one goal, and tying the team lead with four assists.

While not given an All-Sun Belt honor, he was named to the All-Southeast Region Third Team by the United Soccer Coaches.

#10 Alex Smith - Defender

After playing 90 minutes in Orlando against the Knights in 2023, Alex Smith joins them in 2024.

He started all 17 matches he played in 2023 with the Eagles, totaling 1,488 minutes. He scored his one goal of the season in a match against UNC Asheville.

• 7 Seniors and Fifth-years
• 5 Juniors
• 8 sophom*ores
• 7 freshmen
• 5 Floridians — 2 from Central Florida
• 21 International players (France, Germany, Brazil, Costa Rica, Japan, Spain, Senegal, Colombia, Israel, Portugal, and Ghana)

The Knights did not let up when it came to its 2024 schedule. Including its four fellow Sun Belt teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament, five of its six non-conference opponents also competed in the NCAA Tournament.

UCF will not have to leave the state of Florida for such a non-conference slate, with five of their matches being home ones in Orlando and its lone away match is against FIU.

Five of the Knights’ opponents were ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25 ranking: #23 SeattleU (Aug. 25), #15 Wake Forest (Aug. 31), @ #18 James Madison (Sept. 21), @ #3 West Virginia (Oct. 5), and #8 Marshall (Oct. 11).

Sun Belt Conference Tournament:

• Top 8 Teams Qualify
• Quarterfinals (Campus sites of #1 and #2 Seeds): Nov. 10
• Semifinals (Campus sites of #1 and #2 Seeds): Nov. 13
• Final (Hosted by the higher-seeded team): Nov. 17

UCF ended a season with 3+ consecutive losses before 2023: 1994. The Knights were on their way to a winning record in Year #2 under Bob Winch, sitting at 9-7-2 after a 2-1 win over Marshall. However, three consecutive losses against Dayton, Rollins, and College of Charleston in the ASUN Tournament, brought them down to below .500 for a second consecutive season.