2023 UCF Knights men's soccer team

2023 UCF Knights men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
Record	10–4–2 (6–2–1 Sun Belt)
Head coach	Scott Calabrese (7th season)
Home stadium	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium
Seasons ←  2022 2024 →

The 2023 UCF Knights men's soccer team represented University of Central Florida in the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It is the Knights' first season playing in the Sun Belt Conference. ^[1]

2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 8 Marshall ‡	7	–	2	–	0			18	–	3	–	0
No. 19 UCF +	6	–	2	–	1			10	–	4	–	2
No. 3 West Virginia +	5	–	1	–	3			17	–	3	–	4
No. 18 James Madison +	4	–	2	–	3			10	–	5	–	5
Kentucky +	3	–	3	–	3			8	–	8	–	4
Georgia State	3	–	4	–	2			6	–	7	–	5
South Carolina	3	–	4	–	2			6	–	9	–	3
Old Dominion	2	–	6	–	1			5	–	7	–	5
Georgia Southern	1	–	5	–	3			2	–	9	–	6
Coastal Carolina	1	–	6	–	2			3	–	9	–	3
‡ – 2023 Sun Belt Conference tournament champion + – At-large invitation to the 2023 NCAA tournament As of December 12, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: Sun Belt

The Knights were given an At-Large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the twelfth seed. However, they were upset by unranked Vermont 3-2 after 2 overtime periods. ^[2]

Background

In 2022 UCF played their final season as an American Athletic Conference team and finished the season 6-7.

It was announced in 2021 that UCF would join the Big 12 Conference in 2023, however, the Big 12 does not support men's soccer. ^{[3] [4]} On June 21, 2022 UCF announced they would join the Sun Belt Conference for men's soccer starting with the 2023 season. ^{[5] [6]}

Squad information

Roster

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   USA Luciano Natoli 2 DF   USA Zane Bubb 3 DF   FRA Raphael Crivello 4 MF   GER Jonas Fritschi 5 MF   SEN Ousmane Ba 6 DF   BRA Anderson Rosa 7 FW   SEN Mouhamed Pouye 8 MF   USA Beto Ydrach 9 FW   BRA Lucca Dourado 10 FW   FRA Clarence Awoudor 11 FW   SEN Malang Mandiang 12 MF   USA Robbie Soronellas 13 DF   ISR Ron Ben Dakon

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW   POR Fabio Guerreiro 15 MF   FIN Saku Heiskanen 16 DF   CRC Timothy Arias 17 MF   NZL Oscar Hough 18 MF   FRA Yanis Belatrache 20 DF   CRC Brandon Calderon 21 FW   GHA Emmanuel Bam 22 MF   USA Drew Hansen 23 DF   GER Arne Michaelis 24 MF   USA AJ Seals 26 GK   USA Shane Wright 27 GK   COL Pablo Ossabal 28 FW   USA Junior Trucillo 29 FW   USA Joey Mueller 30 MF   ISR Itai Levisman 31 GK   ESP Juanvi Muñoz

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Scott Calabrese
Associate Head Coach	Paul Souders
Associate Head Coach	Jamie Davies
Goalkeeper Coach	Devala Gorrick
Director of Operations	Carter Sadin
Athletic Trainer	Elisabeth Bird
Assistant Director of Sports Performance	Joe Howard

Source ^[7]

Schedule

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 12* 7:00 p.m.		at  Jacksonville	W		UCF Soccer and Track Complex Orlando, FL
August 17* 7:00 p.m.		at  South Florida War on I-4	L 0-2		Corbett Stadium Tampa, FL
Regular season
August 24* 7:00 p.m.		at No. 9  Clemson	W 2-1	1-0-0	Riggs Field (4,090) Clemson, SC
August 27* 8:00 p.m.		Stetson	W 2-1	2-0-0	UCF Soccer and Track Complex (593) Orlando, FL
September 1* 7:00 p.m.	No. 14	NC State	W 3-1	3-0-0	UCF Soccer and Track Complex (397) Orlando, FL
September 5* 7:00 p.m.	No. 6	No. 11  FIU	T 2-2	3-0-1	UCF Soccer and Track Complex (618) Orlando, FL
September 9* 7:00 p.m.	No. 6	Brown	W 2-0	4-0-1	UCF Soccer and Track Complex (581) Orlando, FL
September 15 7:00 p.m.	No. 5	No. 4  West Virginia Big 12 Derby	T 2-2	4-0-2 (0–0–1)	UCF Soccer and Track Complex (1,061) Orlando, FL
September 23 7:15 p.m.	No. 3	at No. 1  Marshall	L 0-1	4-1-2 (0–1–1)	Hoops Family Field (3,075) Huntington, WV
September 29 5:00 p.m.		at  Kentucky Big 12 / SEC Challenge			Vickie Bell Soccer Complex Lexington, KY
October 7 7:00 p.m.		Georgia Southern			UCF Soccer and Track Stadium Orlando, FL
October 14 7:00 p.m.		at  Old Dominion			Old Dominion Soccer Complex Norfolk, VA
October 18 7:00 p.m.		Coastal Carolina			UCF Soccer and Track Stadium Orlando, FL
October 22 6:00 p.m.		at  South Carolina Big 12 / SEC Challenge			Eugene E. Stone III Stadium Columbia, SC
October 27 7:00 p.m.		at  Georgia State			GSU Soccer Field Atlanta, GA
October 31 7:00 p.m.		James Madison			UCF Soccer and Track Stadium Orlando, FL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source ^{[8] [9]}

Rankings

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
United Soccer [10]	—	14	6	5	3

References

1. JeffSharon (July 25, 2023). "Breaking Down UCF Men's Soccer's First Sun Belt Schedule". Black & Gold Banneret. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
2. Ladika, Ryan. "No. 12 Men's Soccer Drops Double-Overtime NCAA Second Round Tilt to Vermont, 3-2". ucfknights.com. UCF Knights Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
3. "UCF accepts invitation to join Big 12 Conference". WFTV. September 10, 2021. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
4. Hickman, Dave (March 27, 2012). "Why no men's soccer in Big 12?". Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
5. "UCF Men's Soccer to Join Sun Belt Conference in 2023". Inside the Knights. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
6. "Men's Soccer to Join Sun Belt in 2023".
7. "2023 Men's Soccer". UCF Athletics - Official Athletics Website. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
8. "2023 Men's Soccer Schedule". UCF Athletics - Official Athletics Website. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
9. "NCAA DI Mens Rankings – National | United Soccer Coaches" . Retrieved August 13, 2023.
10. "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. September 27, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.