ORLANDO – In authoring a dominant debut season in the Sun Belt Conference last fall, the No. 19 UCF men’s soccer team earned the respect of its peers.
As announced by the Sun Belt Wednesday afternoon, the Black and Gold have been picked to finish third in the conference’s preseason coaches’ poll, garnering 111 points in the voting completed by head coaches around the league.
A pair of Knights have also earned preseason awards recognition, headlined by fifth year defender Anderson Rosa’s selection as the Sun Belt Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Rosa is joined by fellow fifth year Lucca Dourado on the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team as well.
UCF’s third-place projected finish represents one spot higher than the squad’s fourth-place projection in the 2023 preseason coaches’ poll, and comes after the Knights finished second in their inaugural season in the conference while earning a No. 19 national ranking in the final United Soccer Coaches poll last December.
The Black and Gold trail only No. 8 Marshall and No. 3 West Virginia in this year’s preseason coaches poll, with Marshall earning the top spot on the strength of 138 points and eight of 10 first-place votes. The third-ranked Mountaineers received the remaining two to pull into the second spot in the poll with 132 points.
Rosa, the newly-minted conference Preseason Defensive Player of the Year pick, returns to UCF for his final collegiate season just months removed from being drafted by the Colorado Rapids with the 14th pick of the second round of the MLS SuperDraft 2024.
The selection represented the culmination of a standout senior season for the Salvador, Bahia, Brazil native, who was also named to the United Soccer Coaches’ All-Southeast Region Second Team as well as the Sun Belt’s All-Conference Second Team.
He started each of UCF’s 16 matches in 2023, running his streak of consecutive appearances and starts to 60 dating back to his collegiate debut against Tulsa Feb. 6, 2021. The defender netted a season-high three goals last year and added one assist to record a season-high eight points, and also set a new single-season career best with 18 shot attempts.
As a key member on UCF’s back line, Rosa also aided the Knights in limiting their opposition to two or fewer goals in each of their first 15 matches a year ago, including four clean sheets and five other occasions with just one goal surrendered.
Dourado once again served as an integral part of UCF’s attacking scheme in 2023, leading the team in goals scored (9), points (21), shot attempts (56), shots on goal (22) and game-winning goals (3).
For his efforts, he was included on the United Soccer Coaches’ All-Southeast Region First Team and the Sun Belt’s All-Conference First Team, becoming an All-Region selection for the third time in his career.
The forward appeared in season-high-tying 16 matches for the second time in his career in 2023, and with another strong offensive campaign finished the year in sixth place on the UCF all-time career points list (80) and seventh on the career goals scored list (37). With three more scores, Dourado will become the fifth player in program history to hit the 40-goal plateau with the Knights.
COMPLETE 2024 SUN BELT PRESEASON COACHES POLL
| RANK | SCHOOL | POINTS |
| 1 | No. 8 Marshall (8) | 138 |
| 2 | No. 3 West Virginia (2) | 132 |
| 3 | No. 19 UCF | 111 |
| 4 | Kentucky | 108 |
| 5 | No. 18 James Madison | 106 |
| 6 | South Carolina | 83 |
| 7 | Georgia State | 80 |
| 8 | Old Dominion | 70 |
| 9 | Coastal Carolina | 62 |
| 10 | Georgia Southern | 60 |
Parenthesis indicate first-place votes; Rankings for Marshall, West Virginia, UCF and James Madison are from United Soccer Coaches Preseason top 25 poll
2024 SUN BELT CONFERENCE MEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON AWARDS
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year:
Marcus Caldeira, West Virginia (Jr.)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year:
Anderson Rosa, UCF (5th)
Preseason All-Sun Belt Team:
F – Marcus Caldeira, West Virginia (Jr.)
F – Lucca Dourado, UCF (5th)
F – Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos, Marshall (Sr.)
F – Isaiah Chisholm, Kentucky (So.)
M – Kevin Larsson, James Madison (Jr.)
M – Taimu Okiyoshi, Marshall (5th)
M – Ryan Baer, West Virginia (Gr.)
M – Marco Silva, Marshall (R-So.)
D – Anderson Rosa, UCF (5th)
D – Luca Nikolai, James Madison (So.)
D – Frederik Jorgensen, West Virginia (Sr.)
D – Max Broughton, West Virginia (Gr.)
GK – Casper Mols, Kentucky (Jr.)
UP NEXT
The Knights prepare for their final tuneup prior to the commencement of the 2024 regular season, when the squad will host the Stetson Hatters at the UCF Soccer Complex in preseason exhibition action Aug. 15. The Black and Gold will then welcome the Mercer Bears to Orlando for the team’s season-opener Aug. 22, immediately following UCF women’s soccer’s home-opener against Utah Valley.
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF men’s soccer on X (@UCF_MSoccer), Instagram (@UCF.MSoccer) and Facebook (/UCFMensSoccer).
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite teams by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android devices. The app provides personalized information for men’s and women’s teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and breaking news. Click here to download the app now.