2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season

The 2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season was the 7th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began on August 30, 2019, and concluded on November 5, 2019. The regular season culminated with the 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, which was held from November 9 to November 16.

2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportSoccer
DurationAugust 30, 2019 – November 5, 2019
Number of teams8
2020 MLS SuperDraft
Top draft pickGarrett McLaughlin, 8th overall
Picked byHouston Dynamo
Regular Season
Season championsUCF
  Runners-upSMU
Season MVPCal Jennings
Tournament
ChampionsSMU
  Runners-upUCF
Finals MVPEddie Munjoma
AAC men's soccer seasons
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
As of 17 December 2019
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches

The defending regular season and tournament champions, UCF and SMU, respectively, successfully defended their title. Both UCF, SMU, as well as South Florida were selected by the NCAA Selection Committee to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. SMU reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual national runners-up, Virginia.[1] UCF lost to SMU in the Sweet Sixteen,[2] and South Florida lost to Louisville in the first round.[3]

Background

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Previous season

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The 2018 regular season was won by UCF, who finished conference play with a 5–1–1 record, and won on tiebreakers against SMU. SMU won the 2018 American Tournament, defeating UCF 5–4 in penalty kicks following a 1–1 draw in regulation and overtime. SMU earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, while UCF and Connecticut received at-large berths into the tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, SMU lost in the first round to Oregon State.[4][5] Connecticut beat rivals, Rhode Island,[6] in the first round, before losing to Indiana in the second round.[7] UCF was one of the 16 seeded teams (seeded 14th),[8] allowing them to earn a bye into the second round. There, they lost in overtime to Lipscomb.[9]

Following the season, Cal Jennings won the Offensive MVP award for the conference. Jacob Hauser-Ramsey of Connecticut won the Defensive MVP. Fellow UCF players, Louis Perez, Yannik Oettl, and Scott Calabrese won the AAC Midfielder, Goalkeeper, and Coach of the Year awards, respectively.[10] Perez and Jennings were also named All-Americans by United Soccer Coaches.[11]

Emil Cuello was the first AAC player to be drafted in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, when he was selected by the LA Galaxy with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the draft.[12]

Head coaches

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Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record Record at school American record NCAA
Tournaments[13]
NCAA
College Cups[13]
NCAA
Titles[13]
Cincinnati Hylton Dayes Wright State 20 232–243–63 (.490) 134–158–43 (.464) 8–33–4 (.222) 2 0 0
UConn Ray Reid Southern Connecticut 23 446–130–75 (.743) 300–113–60 (.698) 29–13–11 (.651) 17 2 1
Memphis Richard Mulrooney Memphis (asst.) 6 32–39–15 (.459) 32–39–15 (.459) 13–24–8 (.378) 0 0 0
SMU Kevin Hudson SMU (asst.) 5 48–19–9 (.691) 48–19–9 (.691) 19–6–4 (.724) 3 0 0
South Florida Bob Butehorn Florida Gulf Coast 3 142–108–33 (.560) 13–14–6 (.485) 7–4–4 (.600) 4 0 0
Temple Brian Rowland Maryland (asst.) 2 5–10–4 (.368) 5–10–4 (.368) 2–4–1 (.357) 0 0 0
Tulsa Tom McIntosh Tulsa (asst.) 23 250–173–50 (.581) 250–173–50 (.581) 17–16–4 (.514) 10 0 0
UCF Scott Calabrese FIU 3 106–76–25 (.572) 21–9–5 (.671) 9–3–2 (.714) 4 0 0

Preseason

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Preseason poll

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The preseason poll was released on August 20, 2019. UCF was picked to win the regular season.[14]

Team Ranking First Place Votes Raw Points
1. UCF 7 49
2. SMU 1 42
3. UConn 0 36
4. South Florida 0 31
5. Temple 0 24
6. Memphis 0 18
7. Tulsa 0 16
8. Cincinnati 0 8

Preseason national rankings

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The preseason national rankings were announced in August 2019. United Soccer Coaches, Soccer America, and TopDrawerSoccer.com do a Top-25 preseason poll. CollegeSoccerNews.com do a Top-30 preseason poll.

United
Soccer
[15]
CSN[16] Soccer
America
[17]
TopDrawer
Soccer[18]
Cincinnati
Memphis
SMU RV 22 RV
South Florida
Temple
Tulsa
UCF 15 18 13 17
UConn RV 26

Preseason All-Conference teams

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Honor Recipient
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Cal Jennings, UCF
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Robin Lapert, UConn
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year Yannik Oettl, UCF
Preseason All-AAC Team
2019 AAC Men's Soccer PreSeason All-AAC Teams
First Team
  • Cal Jennings – UCF
  • Yannik Oettl – UCF
  • Louis Perez – UCF
  • Yoni Sorokin – UCF
  • Dayonn Harris – UConn
  • Robin Lapert – UConn
  • Felix Metzler – UConn
  • Ben Roberts – Memphis
  • Adrian Billhardt – South Florida
  • Avionne Flanagan – South Florida
  • Talen Maples – SMU
  • Lukas Fernandes – Temple
  • Chase Bromstedt – Tulsa

Regular season

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Players of the Week

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Week Offensive Defensive Goalkeeper Rookie
Player Position Team Player Position Team Player Team Player Position Team
Sep. 2 Gianluca Arcangeli FW UCF Ben Roberts DF Memphis Bryson Reed Tulsa Jovan Prado MF Memphis
Sep. 9 Cal Jennings FW UCF Talen Maples DF SMU Yannik Oettl UCF Kyle Healy MF Cincinnati
Sep. 16 Sam Ashton FW Memphis Javain Brown DF South Florida Harrison Devenish-Meares South Florida Victor Claudel FW South Florida
Sep. 23 Garrett McLaughlin FW SMU Andres Hernandez DF UCF Shane Lanson SMU Gino Vivi MF UCF
Sep. 30 Gabriel Costa MF SMU Javain Brown DF South Florida Harrison Devenish-Meares South Florida Jonas Schmalbach MF UCF
Oct. 7 Gabriel Costa MF SMU Ben Roberts DF Memphis Noah Lawrence Cincinnati Michael Blanke FW Memphis
Oct. 14 Harris Partain MF Tulsa Robin Lapert DF UConn Gianluca Catalano UConn Gino Vivi MF UCF
Oct. 21 Artur De Luca FW Memphis Jackson Morse DF Memphis Simon Lefebvre Temple Peter Chang MF Memphis
Oct. 28 Garrett McLaughlin FW SMU Pierre Cayet DF Temple Yannik Oettl UCF Mickael Borger DF Temple
Nov. 6 Adrian Billhardt FW South Florida Javain Brown DF South Florida Grant Makela SMU Gianluca Arcangeli MF UCF

Rankings

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    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV No votes received
  Pre
Wk 2
Wk 3
Wk 4
Wk 5
Wk 6
Wk 7
Wk 8
Wk 9
Wk 10
Wk 11
Wk 12
Final
Cincinnati NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Memphis NV NV NV NV NV NV RV RV RV RV RV NV NV
SMU RV RV 22 8 8 4 3 3 12 12 11 5 7
South Florida NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Temple NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Tulsa NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
UCF 15 15 16 13 12 11 9 11 8 6 6 8 10
UConn RV 23 RV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV

Top Drawer Soccer

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    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV No votes received
  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
Cincinnati NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Memphis NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV RV RV NV NV NV NV NV NV
SMU RV RV RV 16 9 4 2 3 4 12 11 11 11 3 3 3 5 5
South Florida NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Temple NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Tulsa NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
UCF 17 17 11 19 17 14 9 4 3 6 4 4 3 8 8 10 10 10
UConn NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV

Postseason

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AAC Tournament

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The 2019 Tournament will be held at the home ground of the regular season winner.[19]

First round
November 9
Semifinals
November 13
Final
November 16
1 UCF 5
4 Memphis 1 5 Temple 0
5 Temple 2 1 UCF 0
2 SMU 1
2 SMU (2OT) 2
3 South Florida 1 3 South Florida 1
6 UConn 0

NCAA Tournament

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Seed School 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship
8 SMU BYE W 1–0 (2OT) vs. Coastal Carolina(Dallas, TX) W 2–1 (OT) vs. #9 UCF(Dallas, TX) L 2–3 (OT) vs. #1 Virginia(Charlottesville, VA)
9 UCF BYE W 2–1 (2OT) vs. Missouri State(Orlando, FL) L 1–2 (OT) vs. #8 SMU(Dallas, TX)
None South Florida L 1–4 vs. Louisville(Louisville, KY)
W–L–T (%): 0–1–0 (.000) 2–0–0 (1.000) 1–1–0 (.500) 0–1–0 (.000) 0–0–0 (–) 0–0–0 (–) Total: 3–3–0 (.500)

Postseason awards and honors

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Conference honors

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2019 AAC Men's Soccer Individual Awards[20]
Award Recipient(s)
Offensive Player of the Year Cal Jennings – UCF
Midfielders of the Year Yoni Sorokin – UCF
Gabriel Costa – SMU
Defensive Player of the Year Eddie Munjoma – SMU
Goalkeeper of the Year Yannik Oettl – UCF
Rookie of the Year Gino Vivi – UCF
Coach of the Year Scott Calabrese – UCF
2019 AAC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams[20]
First Team Second Team Rookie Team

Yannik Oettl, UCF
Cal Jennings, UCF†
Garrett McLaughlin, SMU†
Harris Partain, Tulsa
Yoni Sorokin, UCF†
Dayonn Harris, UConn
Gabriel Costa, SMU
Yanis Leerman, UCF
Javain Brown, South Florida
Avionne Flanagan, South Florida
Eddie Munjoma, South Florida
Sam Ashton, Memphis

Simon Lefebvre, Temple
Louis Perez, UCF
Donovan Segree, Cincinnati
Robin Lapert, UConn
Felix Metzler, UConn
Ben Roberts, Memphis
Gurman Sangha, Memphis
Adrian Billhardt, South Florida
Knut Ahlander, SMU
Lukas Fernandes, Temple
Pierre Cayet, Temple
Mitchell Cashion, Tulsa

Glademir Mendoza, UCF
Gino Vivi, UCF†
Mo Williams, Cincinnati
Ben Awashie, UConn
Moussa Wade, UConn†
Peter Chang, Memphis†
Ford Hunt, Memphis
Javain Brown, South Florida†
Sal Mazzaferro, South Florida
Henrik Bredeli, SMU
Sean Karani, Temple

† denotes unanimous selection

National honors

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Player Pos. School Honor Ref.
Gabriel Costa MF SMU TopDrawer Soccer Second-Team All-American [21]
Soccer America Third-Team All-American [22]
United Soccer Coaches Third-Team All-American [23]
Dayonn Harris FW UConn Senior CLASS Award Senior All-American [24]
Cal Jennings FW UCF College Soccer News First-Team All-American [25]
CoSIDA Second-Team All-American [26]
Senior CLASS Award Senior All-American [24]
Soccer America First-Team All-American [22]
TopDrawer Soccer First-Team All-American [21]
United Soccer Coaches First-Team All-American [23]
Yannis Leerman MF UCF TopDrawer Soccer Second-Team All-American [21]
Garrett McLaughlin FW SMU Senior CLASS Award Senior All-American [24]
Eddie Munjoma DF SMU United Soccer Coaches First-Team All-American [23]
Yoni Sorokin MF UCF TopDrawer Soccer Second-Team All-American [21]
Gino Vivi FW UCF College Soccer News First-Team Freshman All-American [27]
TopDrawer Soccer Third-Team Freshman All-American [28]
Ben Wendell MF Cincinnati CoSIDA Third-Team All-American [26]

American vs other conferences

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MLS SuperDraft

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Total picks by school

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Team Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Total
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0
Connecticut 1 0 0 0 1
Memphis 0 0 0 0 0
SMU 1 0 0 0 1
South Florida 0 0 0 0 0
Temple 1 0 0 0 1
Tulsa 0 0 0 0 0
UCF 1 1 0 0 2

List of selections

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Round Pick # MLS team Player Position College Ref.
1 8 Houston Dynamo Garrett McLaughlin FW SMU [30]
1 17 FC Dallas Cal Jennings FW UCF [31]
1 20 Real Salt Lake Dayonn Harris MF UConn [32]
1 21 D.C. United Simon Lefebvre GK Temple [33]
2 39 Orlando City Jonathan Dean DF UCF [34]

Homegrown contracts

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The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008,[35] every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.

To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year.[36] Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.

Original MLS team Player Position College Ref.
FC Dallas Eddie Munjoma DF SMU [37]

References

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  1. ^ Hnatiuk, Aileen (December 7, 2019). "UVA men's soccer advances to College Cup beating SMU in overtime 3-2". WVIR. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  2. ^ "SMU Defeats UCF 2-1 in NCAA Men's Soccer Third Round". theamerican.org. November 30, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  3. ^ "Louisville Cardinals vs. South Florida Bulls - College Soccer Match Summary - November 21, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  4. ^ Severs, John (November 16, 2018). "Oregon State Men's Soccer: Beavers Beat SMU 2-1 to Advance to Second Round". Building The Dam. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  5. ^ Hatch, Brooks. "OSU men's soccer: Beavers face Gaels in second round". Corvallis Gazette Times. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  6. ^ ChrisS. "NEW: URI Soccer Falls to UConn 4-3 in Overtime in NCAA Tournament". GoLocalProv. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  7. ^ "IU men's soccer puts nation on alert with win over UConn: 'You don't want to be in our way right now.'". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  8. ^ "NCAA soccer: DI men's 2018 tournament bracket released; Wake Forest is No. 1 seed". NCAA.com. November 12, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  9. ^ "UCF Knights vs. Lipscomb Bisons - Football Match Stats - November 18, 2018 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  10. ^ "UCF, UConn Garner Men's Soccer Regular Season Awards". theamerican.org. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  11. ^ "UCF's Cal Jennings, Louis Perez Tabbed United Soccer Coaches All-Americans". theamerican.org. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  12. ^ Morton, Aaron (January 11, 2019). "Former Orem High soccer player Emil Cuello drafted by LA Galaxy". Deseret News. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  13. ^ a b c "NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. ncaa.org. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  14. ^ "UCF Unanimously Tops Men's Soccer Preseason Poll". theamerican.org. August 20, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  15. ^ "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Men — National Pre-Season Poll — August 6, 2019". United Soccer Coaches. August 6, 2019. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  16. ^ "College Soccer News 2019 Preseason National Poll". CollegeSoccerNews.com. August 17, 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  17. ^ "Soccer America Preseason Men's College Top 25". Soccer America. August 28, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  18. ^ "College Soccer National Ranking: Men's DI Top 25". Advanced Sports Media, LLC. August 28, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  19. ^ "American Athletic Conference Championships - 2018-19 Schedule". theamerican.org. August 2, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  20. ^ a b "American Athletic Conference Announces 2019 Men's Soccer Awards". theamerican.org. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  21. ^ a b c d "College Soccer Player Rankings - National - Men's National Top 100 - 2019". Top Drawer Soccer. December 17, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  22. ^ a b "Awards: NCAA Division I Men's All-America Team". Soccer America. December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  23. ^ a b c "NCAA Division I Men's All-America Team Announced". United Soccer Coaches. December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  24. ^ a b c "Charlotte's Elliot Panicco Wins 2019 Senior CLASS Award® for Men's Soccer | Senior CLASS Award". www.seniorclassaward.com. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  25. ^ "College Soccer News 2019 All-America Teams - CollegeSoccerNews.com". collegesoccernews.com. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  26. ^ a b "2019 Academic All-America® NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Teams Announced". academicallamerica.com. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  27. ^ "2019 College Soccer News All-Freshman Teams - CollegeSoccerNews.com". collegesoccernews.com. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  28. ^ "College Soccer Player Rankings - Freshman - Men's Freshmen Top 100 - 2019". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  29. ^ Erbes, Megan (October 23, 2018). "American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Report October 23, 2018" (PDF). theamerican.org. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  30. ^ "Houston Dynamo Select FW Garrett McLaughlin & MF Luka Prpa at 2020 MLS SuperDraft". OurSports Central. January 9, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  31. ^ Epperley, Drew (January 9, 2020). "FC Dallas selects two in the first round of the 2020 MLS Draft". Big D Soccer. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  32. ^ "Real Salt Lake adds pair, including UConn winger Dayonn Harris, via 2020 SuperDraft". www.ksl.com. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  33. ^ "D.C. United Select Goalkeeper Simon Lefebvre with 21st Overall Pick in 2020 MLS SuperDraft". January 9, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  34. ^ "Jonathan Dean Drafted by Orlando City". UCF Athletics. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  35. ^ "MLS Draft 2013: Homegrown player initiative rises as draft declines". Sporting News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2019. [verification needed]
  36. ^ "MLS 2012 Roster Rules". Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. [verification needed]
  37. ^ Sigal, Jonathan (January 13, 2020). "FC Dallas sign Eddie Munjoma as Homegrown after All-American career at SMU". MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
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