UCF Men's Soccer made history this week.
The Knights, in the midst of a five-match winning streak, jumped to the top spot of the NCAA Division I United Soccer Coaches Poll on Tuesday. It's not only the first No. 1 ranking in UCF Men's Soccer history, but also the first for any UCF sport.
"It means a lot," UCF head coach Scott Calabrese said. "I think we've got a group of young men who have really committed to working incredibly hard. We've got a staff of assistant coaches and support staff that have worked incredibly hard. You get a lot of motivation and validation from that. It feels good, really good."
For UCF senior defender Anderson Rosa, it shows their hard work has paid off.
"It feels great," Rosa said. "When I decided to come to UCF, I came here to make history. It's an amazing feeling, but we're not done yet. We want more. We want to win trophies. That's the goal."
UCF enters the final week of the regular season with a record of 9-1-2. Ranked No. 2 the past three weeks, there was an opening to claim the top spot after prior-No. 1 Marshall lost a couple matches. The Knights and Herd are now conference mates in the Sun Belt, a new league for UCF this season since the Big 12 doesn't sponsor men's soccer.
"I think the Sun Belt made a lot of sense," Calabrese said. "That's where the other (Power Five schools) that don't have a home play with South Carolina and Kentucky from the SEC and West Virginia in the Big 12. Marshall won a National Championship a few years back and there are a number of good teams. It was the right fit and the right move."
The Sun Belt is regarded as one of the top men's soccer leagues, so the step up in competition has helped in UCF in national perception.
"Any time you have teams within your league that have high RPIs, there's opportunity there," Calabrese said. "Those opportunities give you a chance. And sometimes seasons go different than the one we're having. If you don't have results early on, you still have high-RPI teams on the schedule. You can immediately change your season and put yourself in the postseason quickly. We also sought a couple non-conference games that were going to give us an opportunity for good RPI points. But you've got to go and get the points."
One of those games was against Clemson in the season opener. A 2-1 win against the Tigers (ranked No. 4 at the time) showed this could be a special group.
"We were down 1-0 in like 30 seconds," Anderson Rosa said. "They scored 30 seconds in. After that, we still played like it was a 0-0 game. It didn't put us down. We kept going. Beating Clemson 2-1, that made us believe more that we could achieve great things this year."
UCF's roster is made up of players from 13 countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Senegal, Brazil, Israel, Portugal, Finland, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Ghana, Colombia and Spain.
"They get along so well," Calabrese said. "There's so many personalities within the group. I think it's more celebrated and embraced than anything else. I think they really enjoy the different languages. Players are literally trying to learn the languages of other players. If one speaks German, the other one is trying to learn French."
Senior forward Lucca Dourado, who leads the team with nine goals, says it's a close-knit team.
"At the beginning of the summer, everybody was trying to get connected with everybody," Dourado said. "A lot of different cultures. What do they like, not like? We did a lot of fun things together like barbecues, so we can get to the season and play well."
Calabrese, who arrived at UCF in 2017, coached the Knights to three consecutive American Athletic Conference regular season championships and NCAA Tournament appearances from 2018-2020. Going in, he thought this could be one of his best teams.
"I think we had a feeling there was a different level of maturity of the group and a different level of leadership," Calabrese said. "We felt like we could potentially have something here, but you don't know how it will all come together. How are you going to do when things don't go how you planned? What we found is we have an incredible solid group of human beings. It starts with who they are as people. I think that set the tone for us to be able to deal with the highs and lows and to take that in stride and commit to getting better every single day."
UCF has two more regular season matches left - Friday at Georgia State and the home finale next Tuesday, Oct. 31 - Halloween - vs. James Madison.
"Wear your costume," Calabrese said. "I'll try to bring some candy for the kids. I know my three kids want to trick or treat. I think they're going to do it early and then come to the game. Whether you can get there on time or at halftime, I think it's going to be a great game. JMU is an excellent team that's been in the top 20 for a lot of the season. It's very likely that game is consequential for both teams. Hopefully we get a good crowd."
Looking ahead, UCF has their eyes set on winning the Sun Belt Championship. After that? Lucca Dourado said they want to win the National Championship.
"That's the mindset we talked about before the season started," Dourado said. "We've got a special group this season. Especially for those guys in their last season, we want to make something special for them and UCF."
