Former Knight Eduardo Jimenez is playing professionally in the North American Soccer League with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The midfielder, who concluded his collegiate career in the fall, signed with the team in early April.

Jimenez appeared in 68 career contests for the Knights and scored four goals with five assists. In 2012, he played in all 18 matches and recorded one goal and one assist. Jimenez was a member of two NCAA Tournament squads during his time in Orlando.

The North American Soccer League has 11 teams, including three in Florida.

Former UCF goalkeeper Sean Johnson has been selected to the U.S. Men's National Team squad that will face Costa Rica and Mexico in upcoming World Cup Qualifiers. The U.S. will face Costa Rica in Colorado on March 22 and meet Mexico in Mexico City on March 26.

The United States is one of the six CONCACAF nations competing in the final round of qualifying for a berth in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

A Lilburn, Ga. product, Johnson made his international debut Jan. 22, 2011 against Chile at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Johnson earned his first start for the U.S. Men's National Team and earned the shutout in a 0-0 draw with Canada at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas Jan. 29. The 23-year-old 'keeper has been capped three times.

Now in his fourth year as a professional, Johnson started the first three matches of the season for the Fire and earned his 16th career shutout in a 0-0 draw at Sporting Kansas City March 16. In 2012, Johnson appeared in a career-high 31 regular season matches for the Men in Red and recorded five shutouts en route to a 1.24 goals against average that was the lowest in his professional career. Johnson made 108 saves in 2012, including a career-high ten saves against the San Jose Earthquakes July 28.

Johnson will miss the Fire's match against Chivas USA at Toyota Park on Sunday, March 24 at 4:00 p.m. CT (My50 Chicago/UniMas/107.9 La Ley).

In his professional debut over the weekend, Deshorn Brown quickly showed the Colorado Rapids why he was a great selection in the recent MLS SuperDraft. The former Knight earned the start at forward in the Rapids' season opener at FC Dallas and recorded four shots, including a pair on goal, in 83 minutes.

On Saturday, Brown and fellow rookie Dillon Powers were two of the most impressive players on the field for Colorado coach Oscar Pareja in a 1-0 defeat.

"You want to have the result, but with this philosophy that we have here we're not afraid to throw the young guys in there, because they deserve it," Pareja said after the game at FC Dallas Stadium. "I thought the performance today by Dillon Powers and Deshorn Brown was great."

In the 13th minute, the two linked up for arguably the Rapids' best chance on goal on the night. Powers chested down a ball at midfield, turned and lifted a perfect pass to Brown, whose ensuing effort on goal was well saved by FC Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez.

Colorado will make its home debut Saturday vs. the Philadelphia Union.

Brown was tabbed by the Rapids with the No. 6 overall pick in the SuperDraft. As a junior in 2012, he recorded

Former UCF star Warren Creavalle is poised for a big year with the Houston Dynamo. As a rookie in 2012, he appeared in 11 contests and made five starts.

HoustonDynamo.com has a story on Creavalle, who helped UCF to the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Tournaments, and his excitement heading into his second MLS season.

Click here to read the story.

After he was selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft by the Colorado Rapids Thursday, UCF forward Deshorn Brown has received plenty of media attention:

MLSSoccer.com Video: Brown talks about starting professional career

ColoradoRapids.com Video: Brown talks about heading to Colorado

ColoradoRapids.com Video: Rapids head coach Omar Pareja on Brown

Orlando Sentinel: UCF forward Deshorn Brown selected sixth overall by Colorado Rapids in MLS SuperDraft

Denver Post: Rapids get three in MLS Draft, including Jamiaca striker Deshorn Brown

A tough overtime loss for the UCF men's basketball team overshadowed career games for Keith Clanton and Tristan Spurlock, the Knights will look to bounce back this weekend when they hit the road again and travel to Houston to take on the Cougars Saturday night.

Clanton scored 36 points and Spurlock added a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds in UCF's 88-85 overtime loss against ECU. The Knights will face the Pirates one more time this season when ECU travels to Orlando on February 9^th.

The women's basketball team will be back home this upcoming weekend after a tough 69-54 loss against the SMU Mustangs. UCF will host the Southern Golden Eagles Sunday afternoon in the UCF Arena.

The women's track and field is coming off a very successful Kentucky invitational where the team finished with eight marks that rank among the NCAA's top 10 and a new freshman record in the 3,000 meters by Anne-Marie Blaney.

The Knights will travel to Gainesville to compete in the Gator Invitational and to Birmingham, Alabama to take part in the Auburn Invitational.

Also, keep a close eye Thursday night on the MLS Draft. UCF men's soccer standout Deshorn Brown is expected to be a Top 10 selection. Find out more about Brown and the rest of the UCF athletic squads in the video above.

TopDrawerSoccer.com recently published its list of the top players in Conference USA in 2012 and a pair of Knights were recognized. Junior forward Deshorn Brown was No. 6 and senior defender Andrew Quintana was listed at No. 8.

In his first year at UCF, Brown garnered NSCAA All-South Region First Team and All-C-USA First Team honors after recording 13 goals. He led C-USA and ranked fifth nationally in points per game at 1.81 and was tops in the league and sixth in the country in goals per game at 0.81.

A four-year starter at center back, Quintana started all 18 matches this past season. He ranked second on the squad with 1,671 minutes.

After posting an impressive 1-0 victory over No. 17 SMU Sunday, UCF has moved to fifth in the NSCAA South Region Poll. North Carolina is first in the poll, followed by Wake Forest, Elon and Furman. UCF is the highest-ranked team from Florida in the regional polls.

The Knights will have more chances to move up in the poll, starting Sunday when they play at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane are currently receiving votes in the NSCAA/Continental Tire Top 25.

Major League Soccer recently released a list of the top 24 players in the league under 24 and former Knight Sean Johnson was recognized near the top rankings. The Chicago Fire goalkeeper earned the No. 4 spot on the list. Johnson was recently called into U.S. National Team camp and has excelled for the Fire in 2012.

Johnson played for the Knights from 2008-09 and was selected by Chicago in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft.

Click here to read more about Johnson and the MLS 24 Under 24 list.

Following its match against Jacksonville Friday, the Knights will have a long break before their next contest - the team will play at Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday. The break will sure come in handy for the Knights, who will need to plan for a formidable opponent.

The Eagles went 12-6-2 last year and posted an impressive 2-1 win in September of 2011 over the then-No. 8 Knights in Orlando. The teams met again in the first round of the NCAA Championship and the host Knights won 1-0 in double overtime.

Florida Gulf Coast is 3-3 this season, but has faced a challenging schedule. The Eagles began the campaign with a contest at No. 2 Akron, and then played at No. 16 Georgetown. The team owns a 3-0 neutral-site win over South Carolina, and has also defeated Iona and Bucknell.

TopDrawerSoccer.com lists Florida Gulf Coast at No. 38 in its Tournament 48 Rankings.

Losses are something teams never want to deal with, but there can be value in learning from them. Despite the UCF men's soccer team's 2-0 loss to No. 11 Old Dominion Saturday night, head coach Bryan Cunningham knows playing against one of the top teams in the nation can only help his squad.

The defeat was the Knights' first of the season.

"We'll be better because of this game," Cunningham said. "We have a good team and we're only going to get better. You learn from wins and you learn from losses."

According to College Soccer News, four of UCF's upcoming opponents are currently ranked in the Top 30 national poll. The Knights' next opponent - California - received votes in the CSN ranking. Playing a daunting schedule will benefit the Knights in the post-season.

"You always want to play the best so you can move up the rankings and get into the [NCAA] Tournament," senior forward A.J. Nelson said. "Getting those good tests will help us come tournament time. It's a good thing for us and we'll get some good results out of it."

"It's tough, but it's a good test early," Nelson said. "Hopefully we can learn from it and move forward."

The Knights will play at California this Friday.

TopDrawerSoccer.com released its Men's National Top 100 player list Friday and UCF junior McKauly Tulloch was listed at No. 44. A preseason All-America selection, Tulloch scored 15 goals in 2011.

The website also ranked the top players in Conference USA and Tulloch was fourth on the list. Senior defender Andrew Quintana was No. 11. 

UCF will conclude the exhibition portion of its schedule Sunday when the Knights host Florida Tech at 2 p.m. at the UCF Soccer Complex. Admission is free for the contest.

The Knights will be playing their third exhibition contest in six days. On Friday in Orlando, UCF rallied to pickup a 2-2 draw versus Mercer. Both of UCF's goals came in the final 10 minutes of the contest. Deshorn Brown scored to cut the Bears' lead to a goal and then assisted on McKauly Tulloch's tying score.

Following the matchup with Florida Tech, UCF will open the regular season at Florida Atlantic on Nov. 24. The squad's home opener is Sept. 1 against Old Dominion. 

Incoming UCF junior transfer Deshorn Brown picked up a big honor Tuesday when he was named to the 2012 PDL All-League Team. The forward, who will begin his career with the Knights in August, was one of 11 players from the league's 73 teams to be honored.

Playing for Reading United in Pennsylvania, Brown scored 13 goals in 13 matches.

A native of Jamaica, Brown was a two-time NAIA All-America First Team selection at the University of Mobile. In 2011, he led all NAIA players with 32 goals.

During non-conference play, a pair of teams who competed in the NCAA Championship in 2011 will visit the UCF Soccer Complex. The Knights will host Old Dominion on Sept. 1 and also welcome Charlotte, the national runner-up, on Sept. 26. In this  video, UCF head coach Bryan Cunningham talks about hosting high-caliber opponents.

When the Knights face host California on Sept. 7, UCF fans will be able to follow the action from the West Coast. The match is scheduled to air nationally on the new Pac-12 Network, which is scheduled to make its debut in August.