Sept. 27, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - There are times when UCF senior forward Cameron Cooksey looks around at the talent surrounding him and the strong belief and trust coursing through the UCF men's soccer team and he's blown away at how far the program has come.
Cooksey's first team at UCF in 2008 was still adapting to coach Bryan Cunningham's system and coming off a four-win season at the time. Now, four years later, the Knights are the No. 10 team in the country and rolling along with an impressive 6-1-1 record.
To Cooksey, it's almost surreal how everything has changed in the evolution of his college career. The Knights now have a team that expects to win every time it takes the field, such as Wednesday night when they face Conference USA power Kentucky at the UCF Soccer Complex. Cooksey also sees a togetherness and belief that anything - a conference title, a run to the College Cup and even a mention of a national championship - is possible now for the Knights.
``It's pretty cool where we are now because looking back to my freshman year we only won like four games. Then last year, we only lost (five) games in all,'' said Cooksey, one of five seniors on this season's team. ``The turnaround is completely different. If you could see our team from then to now, it's a complete 180. Everybody is working for one another, we love and trust each other and we treat each other with respect. We're really one big family and it's something that's great to be a part of. I'm really going to miss this when I'm gone.''
Before Cooksey is gone the Knights have some big-time goals they want to accomplish this season. The Knights are coming off a 12-5-3 season, one in which they finished 4-1-3 in Conference USA play - their best league mark since joining C-USA in 2005. UCF routed in-state rival USF 3-0 in the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual College Cup participant Michigan 2-1 in overtime.
Now, the Knights want to build off that success this season. The hopes are, starting with Wednesday night's home game against Kentucky, that they can win a C-USA crown and get back to the NCAA tournament. Cunningham, the architect of UCF's rise as a program, said the maturity of this team and its ability to focus on the task at hand have been big reasons for the success. And he's noticed already how the success from last season has carried over to this team.
``Belief-wise, confidence-wise and having some swagger, last year helped us get a lot of that. The big thing now is that they knew what work was required and they are doing it again,'' said Cunningham, who is in his fifth year with the Knights.
``They are working hard again and taking care of the fine details. I've been pleased with the leadership and how they are bringing the young kids along.''
Another thing that has impressed Cunningham is how UCF has taken last season's success and raised the bar of expectations for this season. He loved how even when UCF fell behind early against Mercer and George Mason they were able to fight back each time for a win and a tie. And against American, with the home stands packed hoping to see an upset of the nationally ranked Knights, UCF rose up and played some of its best soccer of the season in a 2-0 victory.
``The three games on the road, the players' mentality was so strong,'' Cunningham said. ``We were down a goal twice on the road, but we showed courage and inner strength and they believe that they are going to win. I think I respect that more than anything. I love that they are confident that they are going to win every match.''
They have that belief because the Knights are loaded with firepower offensively. UCF is 12th in the nation in goals per game (2.38). The Knights have outscored foes 19-7 and hold an 18-7 advantage in assists. McKauly Tulloch, a sophomore from Kingston, Jamaica, has nine goals in six games and leads the nation in points per game (3.33). Nik Robson (three goals, four assists) is playing well after a slow start, while Cooksey (one goal, three assists) and fellow senior Kevan George (five assists) have provided leadership.
``The seniors are like the heart of the team and the other guys are very mature,'' said George, a midfielder from Trinidad. ``I think about how far we've come as a team a lot. We came from nothing really, and to be where we are now, it's amazing. We were just talking about the team that we had back then and the one that we had now, and there's really no comparison.''
Cunningham received the ultimate compliment from an opposing coach recently that made him smile from ear to ear. The opposition marveled at how UCF could adjust alignments midgame without even the slightest hiccup in execution. And even when the Knights lost a player and played with a man down, they handled the setback with maturity and grace.
That moment let Cunningham know that this UCF program has arrived to the point now where any dreams are capable of coming true. The program has come a long ways in five year's time and is set up now for sustained success.
``I'm just really proud of this group of seniors that we have because they were with us in the beginning. They believed in what we were doing and knew about the vision that we had for this program,'' Cunningham said. ``Now that it's coming to fruition, it's not surreal because we knew that we had some strong players and knew if we kept doing things right that it would add up.
``On and off the field, we have great kids and great leaders,'' the coach continued. ``They're great to be around and they work tremendously hard. They are so mature in how they deal with our younger players. They are going to leave here someday and the younger kids are going to know how to take care of this program because of what they have done.''
First, the likes of Cooksey, George and fellow senior Warren Creavalle - a third-team All-American last season - want to do some major damage in C-USA and later the NCAA Tournament. Following Wednesday's game against Kentucky, a huge road game against perennial C-USA power SMU looms on Saturday. Then, on Oct. 8 the Knights host South Carolina in one of the biggest home games of the season.
The belief is that those pivotal games will make the Knights better once the NCAA Tournament rolls around in mid-November. The overtime loss to Michigan last fall is never far from the minds of UCF's players, and they still feel like they could have been the ones going on to the College Cup instead of the Wolverines. Now, the bar has been raised, and UCF feels like it has the team to meet any challenge.
``We play those conference teams every year and we beat a lot of them last year, so they're going to be gunning for us now. It'll get us amped up, but that's good because we're starting to play better and better and we'll be ready for it,'' Cooksey said. ``(The Michigan game) just showed us that of a team that made it to the College Cup, we could have easily had their number and we could have won that game. We realize that while we haven't made it all the way to the top yet that we can still play with any team in the country. Anytime, any day, any place - we can play any team and we can win.''
John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.