Oct. 22, 2009
By Stephanie Hayes
UCFAthletics.com
For fans of UCF men's soccer, the field may be looking a little different this season. Camilo Rendon, a staple of the Knights' defense during the 2008 season, can now be seen utilizing his speed in a new role as both a midfielder and a forward.
The junior has taken to his new position well, and recently broke through by tallying two goals within a 10-minute stretch in UCF's 4-2 win over Mercer last week. The two markers were the first of the career for Rendon. This transition was not without its challenges however.
"The biggest challenge for me is to create scoring opportunities for the team," said Rendon. "I'm not really used to it because as safety, I was just worried about the other team not scoring. Now I have the responsibility of trying to create those scoring opportunities for my team. It's totally opposite but it's fun." Rendon has also taken on a new position of leadership, being one of only four juniors on a young team void of seniors.
"I just try to help Yaron (Bacher) as much as possible," he said. "He's our captain, our number one go-to guy. He's a great leader but sometimes, he needs an extra hand or an extra eye, so I try to help him as much as possible." The UCF men's soccer team has seen a season of ups and downs in terms of wins and losses thus far in 2009, but with three-straight wins in their past three games, the team's confidence is beginning to build.
"I think what have changed are the team chemistry and our mentality heading into games," said Rendon. "Our mentality is to go and win games, not to score a lot or think 'we don't want to lose.' We're just focusing on winning games."
With four Conference USA games left in the regular season, and with only four teams getting spots in the C-USA Tournament, winning games is exactly what the Knights will have to do. With a young team, this is not always as easily done as said, but Rendon is confident that the freshmen on the team have played and will continue to play well, demonstrating the qualities of experienced collegiate athletes in just their first season as Knights.
Going into their next C-USA match this Saturday at 8 p.m. against UAB in Birmingham, Ala., the Knights are preparing themselves to take another victory.
"Our confidence is really high right now," said Rendon. "I don't want the team to get too confident, just be confident enough to win that game."