ORLANDO – For the third consecutive year, the UCF men’s soccer team can stake its claim to an MLS SuperDraft selection.
Defender Anderson Rosa saw his name chosen by the Colorado Rapids with the 14th pick of the second round of the MLS SuperDraft 2024 Tuesday night, making the senior the 13th Knight in program history to be selected in the MLS’ draft.
Rosa becomes the fourth Knight to be chosen in just the last three seasons as well, joining Gino Vivi (2023, LA Galaxy), Yanis Leerman (2022, Chicago Fire) and Nick Taylor (2022, Orlando City). The defender also represents the second Knight to be selected by Colorado in program history, joining Deshorn Brown in 2012, and he becomes the sixth Knight to be selected under UCF head coach Scott Calabrese, joining Vivi, Taylor, Leerman, Cal Jennings (2020, FC Dallas) and Jonathan Dean (2020, Orlando City).
Rosa also becomes the second Knight to be selected by a professional team based in Colorado during the 2023 calendar year, joining catcher and UCF baseball alum Ben McCabe, who was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the ninth round of the 2023 MLB Draft July 10.
The defender enjoyed a career season en route to helping the UCF men’s soccer to the first No. 1 national ranking in UCF athletics history this fall, setting single-season career-bests in goals scored (3), points (7) and shot attempts (18), and he tied his season-high with five shots on goal.
For his efforts, Rosa garnered his second All-Region selection, and his first to the All-Southeast Region second team, in addition to Sun Belt All-Conference Second Team, Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference First Team and CSC Academic All-District Team honors.
The Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, native displayed his durability throughout the fall campaign, starting each of the Knights’ 16 matches and playing in 1,458 of UCF’s 1,460 total minutes. In doing so, he also ran his streak of consecutive starts to begin his collegiate career to 60 straight matches spanning his first four seasons in Orlando.
Rosa converted his first career penalty kick attempt in UCF’s 2-0 win over Brown Sept. 9, scoring his first goal of the year and the fourth of his career. He later tallied his first career game-winning score at South Carolina Oct. 22, and he netted UCF’s lone goal in the team’s 2-1 loss to South Carolina in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Quarterfinal Nov. 5.
On the defensive end of the pitch, Rosa played a key role in aiding the Knights limit their opposition to two goals or fewer in 15 of their 16 games, one goal or fewer on nine occasions, and four clean sheets.
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