Aug. 28, 2009
By Andrew Gavin
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - There is calmness in the way head coach Bryan Cunningham has spoken about his team the past few weeks since starting preseason practice. Of course the third-year leader occasionally raises his voice to get his message across to a young team, but Cunningham is exuding a confidence that indicates his staff is cautiously optimistic about the 2009 season.
In 2008, a young Knight team with just three seniors made impressive strides. The squad increased its win total by three games from the previous season, finished in a tie for third in the Conference USA standings and won the program's first C-USA tournament game.
"All and all it was a good year last year," said Cunningham. "The team progressed the way that we wanted them to. They became more competitive in our non-conference schedule and really took on some good challenges in the conference season. With a rather young team we were able to make a leap forward that propels us to where we are now."
Cunningham quickly turns to now when asked about last season. The coach is looking forward not back, and he is excited about what he thinks is ahead for UCF men's soccer.
"We have a lot of extremely talented individuals," said Cunningham. "We are going to have depth for the first time since I have been here as the head coach, which will be a nice luxury. Now it is just a matter of making sure all of the pieces of the puzzle fit. The players are being held to a higher standard and that it is going to make it a competitive year."
The team is void of seniors, but many pieces of that puzzle are returners who played their first season for UCF in 2008. Kevan George was the lone freshman in league to be named to the C-USA All-Conference first team after leading UCF in goals and points. Yaron Bacher, now a junior, led the Knights in shots last season after transferring into the program.
According to Cunningham, both players, along with the rest of the returners, have made great strides since arriving on campus.
"The big thing is leadership and their maturity on and off the field," said Cunningham. "Kevan and Yaron are a pretty good guiding force for the rest of the squad, and the rest of the team in general matured over the course of last season. They have come in this season with a good attitude and a good disposition that I think will keep us moving forward."
With that talent more mature and experienced, Cunningham has stockpiled another terrific recruiting class with 16 newcomers joining the program. The combination has led to what the coach thinks will be the team's biggest asset - depth.
"Depth is going to be a tremendous strength," said Cunningham. "It is something we have not had in the past. It is going to make practice more competitive which is always a good thing. The quality of players is as high as it has ever been."
That quality is highlighted by the class of newcomers, which features numerous players with international playing experience, high school All-Americans and talented transfers.
"From A to Z [the class] has very good players who bring in different levels of experience and all different capabilities on the field," said Cunningham. "From goalkeeping to defending to our midfield to our attacking players this class spans each facet of the game. I couldn't single anyone out because all of them have really done a fine job here."
Defensively, UCF improved substantially last season, decreasing the team's goals against average from 2.10 in 2007 to 1.29 in 2008 and also recording five shutouts. For that improvement to continue, the Knights will have to replace three key members of the defense, most noticeably standout goalkeeper Sean Johnson. After a stellar sophomore campaign, Johnson left the team to play with the United States Under-20 National team and pursue a professional career.
"We have an extremely talented group of goalkeepers," said Cunningham. "They are young and inexperienced, but they have all made tremendous strides in the last few weeks so we look to be very good there as well as deep for the next few years."
Despite the UCF improvement in 2008, Cunningham acknowledges his squad struggled to score at times and that the lack of offense contributed to the Knights' six one-goal losses. The team scored just one goal combined in overtime losses to ranked opponents Ohio State and USF. Having been so close to major upsets, creating and capitalizing on scoring opportunities has been a focus of UCF's practices this fall.
"We talked about that the first night at the first team meeting, not only finishing games but creating and finishing scoring so we can avoid one-goal games in general and also those one-goal losses that have seemed to plague us the last few years," said Cunningham.
As for the team's goals, UCF is focusing more on taking one game at a time than the season as a whole. The schedule includes in-state road trips to USF, Jacksonville and Florida Atlantic, two home tournaments and the always challenging C-USA slate.
"I think it is important to treat each game as the focal point and focus on the individual task of winning that specific game," said Cunningham. "You do not start off by saying you are going to lose some games and tie some games. You start off by saying you are going to go out there and put your best foot forward, treat each game individually and win."
The intensity level of C-USA games around the league should be at a maximum this season, with the number of teams that make the league's tournament cut in half from eight to four.
A season ago, the regular season left the Knights in a four-way tie for third, but due to various tiebreakers they slipped to the sixth seed in the tournament. The same result this season, and UCF would be on the outside looking in while the top four seeds play in the C-USA Tournament in Memphis.
"I think naturally there is that much more pressure as coaches and as players to be one of the best four teams in the conference," said Cunningham. "Almost every team in the conference has a chance to do some special things this year, and with only four teams going to the conference tournament, I think it is going to be more competitive than ever before."
While Cunningham thinks defending champion Tulsa has to be looked at as the favorite and he does not state any specific goals, that confidence is still portrayed when he talks about how his team will stack up in the league.
"We did a good job last year learning the ropes with a young team both learning what it takes to win in this conference and also what the margins for losing are," said Cunningham. "Now you bring that group back and add some more talent and get them to buy into what we are doing and believe in themselves. With a talented group, there is no reason why you shouldn't start the season thinking you should win the conference."
If the UCF players buy into their coach's attitude and play with the same confidence that he has in them, the youthful Knights have a chance to have a memorable season in 2009.