2018 AMERICAN MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP Tuesday, Nov. 6 Thursday, Nov. 8 Saturday, Nov. 10 #6 Memphis Game 1 • 4:30 p.m. #3 USF Game 3 • 4:30 p.m. #2 SMU Game 5 • 7 p.m. #5 Temple Game 2 • 7 p.m. #4 UConn Game 4 • 7 p.m. #1 UCF The conference’s top six teams from the regular season will compete in the 2018 American Athletic Confer- ence Men’s Soccer Championship at the UCF Soccer Complex in Orlando, Fla. The tournament features a single-elimination format opening with the first round on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Tues- day’s first round games and Thursday’s semifinals will be streamed live on the American Digital Network. The championship, slated for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 10, will be available live for streaming on ESPN3. The 2018 American Athletic Conference tournament champion will earn the league’s automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship. Live coverage is available throughout the championship at TheAmerican.org/MSoccer and on the conference’s social media platforms. @AMERICAN_MSOC @AMERICAN_CONF /AMERICANCONF THEAMERICAN.ORG/MSOCCER 1 2018 REGULAR SEASON AWARD WINNERS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR CAL JENNINGS, UCF JACOB HAUSER-RAMSEY, UCONN LOUIS PEREZ, UCF GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR YANNIK OETTL, UCF FELIX METZLER, UCONN UCF FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE ALL-ROOKIE TEAM F - Cal Jennings, Jr., UCF* Grant Makela, Jr., GK, SMU Andres Hernandez Betancur, Fr., D, UCF F - Abdou Mbacke Thiam, Sr., UConn* Yanis Leerman, Fr., D, UCF Yanis Leerman, Fr., D, UCF* F - Tomasz Skublak, Sr., USF Dylan Greenberg, R-Sr., D, UConn Ibrahima Diop, Fr., F, UConn M - Louis Perez, So., UCF* Dayonn Harris, R-Jr.., M, UConn Felix Metzler, Fr., M, UConn* M - Yoni Sorokin, So., UCF Robin Lapert, So., D, UConn Gurman Sangha, Fr., M/F, Memphis M - Emil Cuello, Sr., SMU Feliz Metzler, Fr., M, UConn Henrique Gallina, Fr., D, USF D - Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, Sr., UConn* Avionne Flanagan, So., D, USF Knut Ahlander, Fr., M, SMU D - Talen Maples, So., SMU Alex Zis, Jr., M, USF Lane Warrington, Fr., M, SMU D - Ben Roberts, Jr., Memphis Garrett McLaughlin, Jr., F, SMU Andres Charles-Barrera, Fr., M, Temple GK - Yannik Oettl, So., UCF Akean Shackleford, Jr., F, SMU Jalen Campbell, Fr., M, Temple At-Large - David Zalzman, Sr., M, Memphis Lukas Fernandes, Jr., M, Temple Gilles Kuhler, Fr., F, Tulsa* Chase Bromstedt, So., M, Tulsa *denotes unanimous selection THEAMERICAN.ORG/MSOCCER 2 2018 AMERICAN MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP WELCOME TO THE UCF SOCCER & TRACK COMPLEX The UCF Soccer and Track Complex serves as home for the Knights’ men’s and wom- en’s soccer and women’s track and field programs. The location, originally built in 1991, was re-opened in May 2011 fol- lowing the construction of a grandstand seating facility on the west side. Surrounding one of the top pitches in all of college soccer is an eight-lane, 400-meter track featuring a Martin Surface that was refurbished in the summer of 2004. In 2008, an expanded throwing area for the hammer, discus and shotput was also added to the complex. Both, long jump and triple jump pits, were rebuilt ahead of the 2008 season. A new grandstand section along with on-site restrooms was added in the most recent phase of construction. The grandstand brought an additional 1,475 seats, bringing the total capacity to more than 2,000 for the entire complex. The press box comfortably sits media mem- bers along with event and department staffs. The men’s and women’s soccer teams also have access to the soccer practice field, located northeast of the UCF Soccer and Track Complex and just outside IOA Plaza of Bright House Networks Stadium. Stadium Information Open: 1991 Renovated: 2011 Capacity: 1,475 Surface: Natural grass 2018 NCAA MEN’S COLLEGE CUP The 2018 American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer champion will earn the confer- ence’s automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship. The tournament will culminate Dec. 7-9 with the 2018 Men’s College Cup, to be held at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, Calif. The 2018 Division I Men’s Soccer championship provides for a field of 48 teams to compete in a single elimination tournament. Twenty-four conference champions qual- ify automatically; the balance of the field is selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee. The teams will be seeded so that 16 of the 48 teams will receive a First Round bye and automatically advance to the Second Round. Two, two-team single elimination Semifinals games will be held December 7. The two teams winning in the semifinals will ad- vance and compete in the single elimination National Championship game which will take place December 9. The 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship bracket will be announced the Monday prior to the first round of competi- tion. THEAMERICAN.ORG/MSOCCER 3 UCF KNIGHTS ROSTER STATLEADERS No. Name Cl. Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown 1 Yannik Oettl Sr. GK 6-2 163 Munich, Germany GOALS GOALS AGAINST AVG. 2 Andreas Steineger Sr. D 6-4 190 Oslo, Norway Cal Jennings, 19 Yannik Oettl, 0.97 3 Cal Jennings Jr. F 5-10 165 Roswell, Ga. ASSISTS SAVE PERCENTAGE 4 Jack McCloskey So. D 6-1 175 Winter Springs, Fla. 5 Zachary Waitman Sr. D 5-8 165 Montverde, Fla. Sorokin & Perez, 5 Yannik Oettl, .768 6 Jonathan Dean Sr. D/M 5-8 155 Macon, Ga. POINTS SAVES 7 Richard Amon Jr. M/F 5-9 140 Accra, Ghana Cal Jennings, 42 Yannik Oettl, 53 8 Yoni Sorokin So. M 5-11 155 Jerusalem, Israel 9 Gorka Aperribay Sr. F 6-1 185 Winter Springs, Fla. GAME-WINNING GOALS 10 Louis Perez So. M 5-9 170 Villennes Sur Seine, France Cal Jennings, 6 11 Walker Dawkins R-Sr. M/F 5-7 135 Royal Palm Beach, Fla. 12 Mauricio Villalobos Vega Fr. M 5-6 135 San Jose, Costa Rica 14 Hattabiou Barry So. M/F 5-9 155 Paris, France 15 Gideon Adu-Peprah Fr. D 5-10 159 Newcastle, England 16 Francois Dulysse So. D 6-0 173 West Palm Beach, Fla. 17 CJ Campbell Sr. M/F 507 150 Plantation, Fla. 18 Yanis Leerman Fr. F 6-1 185 Troyes, France QUICK FACTS 19 Max Stiegwardt Sr. M 5-9 165 Weston, Fla. 20 Gregorio Ibanez So. M/F 5-9 155 Weston, Fla. NCAA Appearances (recent) ..... 5 (2011) 21 Brandon Golding So. F/M 5-10 142 Margate, Fla. 22 Ricardo Oliveros Sr. M 5-8 163 Weston, Fla. President ............................Dr. John C. Hitt 23 Noah Murphy Sr. F 6-1 197 Austin, Texas Athletic Director ........ Dr. Daniel J. White 24 Thomas Ness Fr. M 5-10 173 Grimstad, Norway Location ..................................Orlando, Fla. 25 Matt Douglass Fr. GK 6-3 189 Clearwater, Fla. 26 Matthew Rosenberg Jr. GK 6-1 185 Manalapan, N.J. Founded .................................................1963 28 Andres Hernandez Betancur Fr. D 5-10 140 San Jose, Costa Rica Enrollment ........................................66,000 29 Gianluca Arcangeli Fr. M 5-10 145 Sao Paulo, Brazil Colors .......................................Black & Gold HEAD COACH: Scott Calabrese Facebook .........................UCFMensSoccer ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH: Paul Souders ASSISTANT COACH: Jamie Davies Twitter ..............................@UCF_MSoccer DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: Eddie Wilding Instagram [email protected] DIRECTOR OF SPORT SCIENCE: Michael Redd GOALKEEPER COACH: Ryan Coulter EQUIPMENT MANAGER: Stephen Herring THEAMERICAN.ORG/MSOCCER 4 UCONN HUSKIES ROSTER STATLEADERS No. Name Cl. Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown 0 Alex Botazzi R-So. GK 6-1 190 Tewksbury, Mass. GOALS GOALS AGAINST AVG. 00 Shane Keenan Fr. GK 5-9 157 Hazlet, N.J. Abdou Mbacke Thiam, 13 Austin Aviza, 1.03 1 Austin Aviza R-Jr. GK 6-3 195 Medway, Mass. 2 Alex Patz So. M 5-10 155 Ithaca, N.Y. ASSISTS SAVE PERCENTAGE 3 Jacob Hauser-Ramsey Sr. D 6-3 190 Seattle, Wash. Thiam & Harris, 6 Austin Aviza, .688 5 Dayonn Harris R-Jr. F 5-7 155 Milton, Ontario POINTS SAVES 6 Dylan Greenberg R-Sr. D 5-6 145 Dix Hills, N.Y. 8 Feliz Metzler Fr. D 6-0 161 Frankfurt, Germany Abdou Mbacke Thiam, 32 Austin Aviza, 33 9 Ibrahima Diop Fr. F 6-0 155 Pennington, N.J. GAME-WINNING GOALS 10 Steffen Yeates Fr. M 5-9 160 Toronto, Ontario Abdou Mbacke Thiam, 6 11 Abdou Mbacke Thiam Sr. F 6-0 162 Dakar, Senegal 12 Josh Burnett So. M 5-9 145 Glen Ridge, N.J. 13 Alex Canicatti R-So. F 5-7 167 Whitestone, N.Y. 14 Munir Saleh Jr. M 5-10 163 Kitchener, Ontario 15 Cole Venner R-Fr. M 5-9 146 Burlington, Vt. 17 Nkosi Burgess R-Jr. D 6-4 182 Deer Park, N.Y. 18 Gianluca Catalano Fr. GK 6-1 173 Woodbridge, Ontario QUICK FACTS 19 Blaise N’Gague So. M 5-11 166 Lyon, France 22 Arthur Silva Fr. M 6-1 172 Bethel, Conn. 23 Robin Lapert So. D 6-1 180 Le Havre, France NCAA Appearances (recent) ..35 (2015) 24 George Kutrubis R-So. M 5-11 172 Norwalk, Conn. President ............................. Susan Herbst 25 Ryan Greenberg Fr. D 6-2 178 Tolland, Conn. 27 Keith Dixon Fr. M 6-1 157 Storrs, Conn. Athletic Director ............. David Benedict 28 Frantz Innocent Jr. R-So. D 6-0 171 East Hartford, Conn. Location .................................Storrs, Conn. 29 Nick Demaso So.