ORLANDO – The UCF men's soccer team had four members honored by the American Athletic Conference on Wednesday, with Lucca Dourado and Anderson Rosa being named First Team All-Conference, Gino Vivi named Second Team All-Conference and Juanvi Muñoz earning a spot on the All-Rookie Team.
Dourado and Rosa each earn their second career nod to The American's First Team, both also earned the honor of being named to the All-Rookie Team back in 2020-21. Dourado still currently leads the nations in goals per game, earning a 0.85 mark while scoring 11 goals this season. Dourado had three multi-goal games during the 2022 campaign, doubling the amount he had in his first two seasons combined. His streak of seven straight matches with a goal was the second longest in the NCAA this season. Rosa played every minute this season for the Black and Gold after missing just three minutes the year prior. Rosa tallied three points on the stat sheet this season, recording a goal and an assist.
Vivi earned a spot on this year's Second Team, his third time on an All-Conference First or Second Team after earning a spot on the 2019 All-Rookie Team, along with being named Freshman of the Year that season. Vivi battled through some injuries during the 2022 campaign, but still ended the year as UCF's second leading scorer, tallying a pair of goals and five assists for nine points. He scored a goal and recorded an assist in UCF's win over No. 13 Charlotte.
Freshman goalkeeper Muñoz made his presence felt all season long between the posts and earns a spot on this year's All-Rookie Team. He turned aside 48 shots while recording a .716 save percentage and a 1.46 goals allowed average. He was the lone goalkeeper to suit up on the pitch this season and earned two clean sheets in the process. He made a career-high seven saves against North Florida in just his second collegiate game. Six of his 13 matches saw him turn aside five shots or more, including punching away five in the season opener at then-No. 15 Wake Forest.
The 2022 season was the final year in The American for the Knights as the men's soccer program will move to the Sun Belt Conference starting in 2023 as the rest of the athletic department moves to the Big 12. This year was the only season UCF did not qualify for The American's postseason tournament, snapping a perfect nine-for-nine streak.
UCF student-athletes were decorated with plenty of conference honors while the Knights were in The American. The Black and Gold had an Offensive Player of the Year for five straight seasons, with names like Romario Williams, Hadji Barry, Matias Pyysalo and Cal Jennings earning a total of six nods. All four are now playing professional soccer. Louis Perez and Yoni Sorokin combined for three straight Midfielder of the Year honors while Yannik Oettl recorded three straight Goalkeeper of the Year awards himself. Vivi was the lone player to win Rookie of the Year while UCF was in The American while head coach Scott Calabrese and staff earned back-to-back Coaching Staff of the Year accolades in 2018 and 2019.
All told, UCF earned 15 major conference awards as part of The American along with 23 First Team nods, 13 Second Team honors and 16 All-Rookie Team members. UCF had two or more players listed on the First Team in five of their ten years in the league, including a program high five Knights listed during the 2020-21 season. The Black and Gold had at least one freshman named to the All-Rookie team over their final six seasons in The American and had representation in nine of the 10 campaigns.
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