# 2018 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season

The 2018 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season was the 6th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began on August 24 and concluded on November 11, 2018.
The 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 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. Connecticut beat rivals, Rhode Island, in the first round, before losing to Indiana in the second round. UCF was one of the 16 seeded teams (seeded 14th), allowing them to earn a bye into the second round. There, they lost in overtime to Lipscomb.
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. Perez and Jennings were also named All-Americans by United Soccer Coaches.
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.

## Background
### Head coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | American record | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| Cincinnati | Hylton Dayes | Wright State | 19 | 229–229–62 (.500) | 131–144–42 (.479) | 7–27–4 (.237) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Connecticut | Ray Reid | Southern Connecticut | 22 | 434–124–73 (.746) | 288–107–58 (.700) | 26–11–9 (.663) | 16 | 2 | 1 |
| Memphis | Richard Mulrooney | Memphis (asst.) | 5 | 24–32–11 (.440) | 24–32–11 (.440) | 11–20–7 (.382) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SMU | Kevin Hudson | SMU (asst.) | 4 | 38–14–6 (.707) | 38–14–6 (.707) | 14–5–3 (.705) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| South Florida | Bob Butehorn | Florida Gulf Coast | 2 | 135–100–31 (.566) | 6–6–4 (.500) | 3–3–2 (.500) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Temple | Dave MacWilliams | Philadelphia KiXX | 19 | 140–161–34 (.469) | 140–161–34 (.469) | 12–19–7 (.408) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Tulsa | Tom McIntosh | Tulsa (asst.) | 22 | 244–164–48 (.588) | 244–164–48 (.588) | 15–11–4 (.567) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| UCF | Scott Calabrese | FIU | 2 | 93–73–22 (.553) | 8–6–2 (.563) | 4–2–1 (.643) | 3 | 0 | 0 |

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

The preseason poll will be released on August 14, 2018. UCF was picked to win the regular season.
| | Team Ranking | First Place Votes | Raw Points |
| 1. | UCF | 4 | 46 |
| 2. | SMU | 3 | 43 |
| 3. | Connecticut | 1 | 38 |
| 4. | South Florida | 0 | 34 |
| 5. | Tulsa | 0 | 26 |
| 6. | Temple | 0 | 19 |
| 7. | Cincinnati | 0 | 11 |
| 8. | Memphis | 0 | 9 |

### Preseason national rankings

Two of the programs were ranked in one of the five major preseason polls. CollegeSoccerNews.com and Hero Sports use a Top 30 ranking throughout the season, while United Soccer, Soccer America, and Top Drawer Soccer use a Top 25 ranking throughout the season.
| | United Soccer | CSN | Hero Sports | Soccer America | TopDrawer Soccer |
| Cincinnati | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Connecticut | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Memphis | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| SMU | 8 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| South Florida | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Temple | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Tulsa | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| UCF | NR | NR | 26 | NR | NR |

### Preseason All-Conference teams

| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Offensive Player of the Year | Garrett McLaughlin, SMU |
| Preseason Defensive Player of the Year | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, Connecticut |
| Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year | Christian Knight, South Florida |

#### Preseason All-AAC Team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | USA | Christian Knight (South Florida) |
| — | DF | NOR | Andreas Steineger (UCF) |
| — | DF | USA | Dylan Greenberg (Connecticut) |
| — | DF | USA | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey (Connecticut) |
| — | DF | ENG | Ben Roberts (Memphis) |
| — | MF | ISR | Yoni Sorokin (UCF) |
| — | MF | VEN | David Zalzman (Memphis) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | GER | Adrian Billhardt (South Florida) |
| — | MF | USA | Emil Cuello (SMU) |
| — | FW | USA | Cal Jennings (UCF) |
| — | FW | USA | Austin Smythe (Cincinnati) |
| — | FW | SEN | Abdou Thiam (Connecticut) |
| — | FW | USA | Garrett McLaughlin (SMU) |

## Regular season
### Players of the Week

| Week | Offensive | Offensive | Offensive | Defensive | Defensive | Defensive | Goalkeeper | Goalkeeper | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Week | Player | Position | Team | Player | Position | Team | Player | Team | Player | Position | Team |
| Aug. 26 | Louis Perez | MF | UCF | Mitchell Cashion | DF | Tulsa | Cooper Clark | Tulsa | Felix Metzler | DF | Connecticut |
| Sep. 2 | Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | Pierre Cayet | DF | Temple | Harrison Devenish-Meares | South Florida | Gilles Kuhler | FW | Tulsa |
| Sep. 9 | Tomasz Skublak | FW | UCF | Koray Easterling | DF | Tulsa | Yannik Oettl | UCF | Jalen Campbell | FW | Temple |
| Sep. 16 | Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey | DF | Connecticut | Tyler Hofmann | Memphis | none announced | none announced | none announced |
| Sep. 23 | Lukas Fernandes | MF | Temple | Talen Maples | DF | SMU | Simon Lefebvre | Temple | Lane Warrington | MF | SMU |
| Sep. 30 | Rex Epps | FW | Cincinnati | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey | DF | Connecticut | Yannik Oettl | UCF | Ibrahima Diop | FW | Connecticut |
| Oct. 7 | Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey | DF | Connecticut | Harrison Devenish-Meares | South Florida | Edgar Alaniz | MF | Memphis |
| Oct. 14 | Tomasz Skublak | FW | South Florida | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey | DF | Connecticut | Grant Makela | SMU | Gilles Kuhler | FW | Tulsa |
| Oct. 21 | Abdou Mbacke Thiam | FW | Connecticut | Ben Roberts | DF | Memphis | Yannik Oettl | UCF | Gurman Sangha | MF | Memphis |
| Oct. 28 | Lukas Fernandes | MF | Temple | Philip Ponder | DF | SMU | Simon Lefebvre | Temple | Thomas Haney | DF | SMU |
| Nov. 4 | Louis Perez | MF | UCF | Philip Ponder | DF | SMU | Noah Lawrence | Cincinnati | Emilio Ycaza | MF | South Florida |

## Rankings
### United Soccer

| | 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 | Final |
| Cincinnati | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Connecticut | RV | 18 | NV | NV | RV | NV | RV | 20 | 20 | 15 | 20 | RV | RV | RV |
| Memphis | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| SMU | 8 | RV | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | RV | RV | RV |
| South Florida | RV | 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 |
| Tulsa | NV | 23 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| UCF | RV | RV | NV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 19 | 19 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 18 |

### Top Drawer Soccer

| | 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 |
| Connecticut | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | 24 | 12 | 13 | 8 | 20 | NV | NV | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Memphis | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| SMU | 6 | 6 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | 24 | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| 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 | 15 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| UCF | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | 24 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 13 | RV | RV | RV | RV |

## Postseason
### AAC Tournament

The 2018 Tournament will be held at the home ground of the regular season winner.
* v
* t
* e
| First round Nov. 6 | First round Nov. 6 | First round Nov. 6 | Semifinals Nov. 8 | Semifinals Nov. 8 | Semifinals Nov. 8 | Final Nov. 10 | Final Nov. 10 | Final Nov. 10 |
| | | | 1 | UCF (2OT) | 3 | | | |
| 4 | Connecticut | 3 | 4 | Connecticut | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Temple | 1 | | | | 1 | UCF | 1 (4) |
| | | | | | | 2 | SMU (pen.) | 1 (5) |
| | | | 2 | SMU (OT) | 2 | | | |
| 3 | South Florida | 1 | 6 | Memphis | 1 | | | |
| 6 | Memphis | 3 | | | | | | |

### NCAA Tournament

| Seed | Region | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| 14 | 3 | UCF | BYE | L 0–1 (OT) vs. Lipscomb – (Orlando, FL) | | | | |
| None | 1 | SMU | L 1–2 vs. Oregon State – (Corvallis, OR) | | | | | |
| None | 4 | Connecticut | W 4–3 vs. Rhode Island – (Storrs, CT) | L 0–4 vs. #2 Indiana – (Bloomington, IN) | | | | |
| | | W–L (%): | 1–1–0 (.500) | 0–2–0 (.000) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) Total: 1–3–0 (.250) |

### Postseason awards and honors
#### Conference honors

2018 AAC Men's Soccer Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Offensive Player of the Year | Cal Jennings, UCF |
| Midfielder of the Year | Louis Perez, UCF |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, Connecticut |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Yannik Oettl, UCF |
| Rookie of the Year | Felix Metzler, Connecticut |
| Coach of the Year | Scott Calabrese, UCF |
| Team Fair Play Award | Connecticut |
2018 AAC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Rookie Team |
| Goalkeeper Yannik Oettl, So., UCF Defenders Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, Sr., UConn† Talen Maples, So., SMU Ben Roberts, Jr., Memphis Midfielders Louis Perez, So., UCF† Yoni Sorokin, So., UCF Emil Cuello, Sr., SMU David Zalzman, Sr., M, Memphis Forwards Cal Jennings, Jr., UCF† Abdou Mbacke Thiam, Sr., UConn† Tomasz Skublak, Sr., USF | Goalkeeper Grant Makela, Jr., SMU Defenders Avionne Flanagan, So., USF Dylan Greenberg, R-Sr., UConn Robin Lapert, So., UConn Yanis Leerman, Fr., UCF Midfielders Chase Bromstedt, So., Tulsa Lukas Fernandes, Jr., Temple Dayonn Harris, R-Jr., UConn Felix Metzler, Fr., UConn Alex Zis, Jr., USF Forwards Garrett McLaughlin, Jr., SMU Akean Shackleford, Jr., SMU | Defenders Andres Hernandez Betancur, UCF Henrique Gallina, USF Yanis Leerman, UCF† Midfielders Knut Ahlander, SMU Jalen Campbell, Temple Andres Charles-Barrera, Temple Felix Metzler, UConn† Lane Warrington, SMU Forwards Ibrahima Diop, UConn Gilles Kuhler, Tulsa† Gurman Sangha, Memphis |
† denotes unanimous selection

#### National honors

| Player | Pos. | School | Honor |
| Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | College Soccer News First-Team All-America |
| Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | USC First-Team All-American |
| Louis Perez | MF | UCF | USC Third-Team All-American |

## American vs other conferences

| Conference | Record |
| ACC | 1–3–1 |
| Atlantic 10 | 1–2–2 |
| Atlantic Sun | 8–1–0 |
| Big East | 0–5–1 |
| Big South | 0–0–0 |
| Big Ten | 3–3–1 |
| Big West | 0–1–0 |
| CAA | 0–0–0 |
| Conference USA | 4–0–1 |
| Horizon | 2–1–0 |
| Ivy | 1–1–0 |
| MAAC | 2–0–0 |
| Mid-American | 1–3–1 |
| Missouri Valley | 0–1–3 |
| NEC | 2–0–0 |
| Pac-12 | 0–0–0 |
| Patriot | 2–0–0 |
| Southland | 0–0–0 |
| Summit | 0–3–0 |
| West Coast | 1–0–0 |
| WAC | 2–2–0 |
| Total Non-Conference Record | 32–28–10 |
| Power Conferences | Record |
| Big Ten | 0–1–0 |
| Pac-12 | 0–1–0 |
| Power Conferences Total | 0–2–0 |
| Other DI Conferences | Record |
| Atlantic 10 | 1–0–0 |
| Atlantic Sun | 0–1–0 |
| Other DI Total | 1–1–0 |
| Total Postseason Record | 1–3–0 |

## MLS SuperDraft
### Total picks by school

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

### List of selections

| Round | Pick # | MLS team | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 19 | LA Galaxy | Emil Cuello | Midfielder | SMU |
| 2 | 42 | Colorado Rapids | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey | Defender | Connecticut |
| 4 | 95 | Portland Timbers | David Zalzman | Midfielder | Memphis |

### Homegrown contracts

| Original MLS team | Player | Position | College | Notes | Ref. |