Men's Soccer set for 2025 Season-Opener at North Carolina

ORLANDO – After completing its annual pair of preseason exhibition contests, the new-look UCF men’s soccer team is set to kick off the 2025 fall slate on the road against the North Carolina Tar Heels Aug. 21.

The Black and Gold bring a roster consisting of 12 returners from the 2024 campaign and 17 newcomers into the new season, with their returning corps led by former Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year selection Clarence Awoudor, redshirt sophomore Drew Hansen and senior goalkeeper Juanvi Muñoz.

Awoudor and Hansen combined for six of the Knights’ 27 goals scored a season ago and will look to help replace the offensive production lost by the graduation of Emmanuel Bam and 2024 All-Sun Belt First Team selection Lucca Dourado, as the latter two combined for 10 goals scored in 2024.

Awoudor represented a key contributor in the facilitation of his team’s offensive efforts throughout the 2024 season, as in addition to his three goals, the Saint-Lo, France native also provided a team-best seven assists that helped lead to his team-best 13 points overall.

Our points leader through four matches, Clarence is off to a hot start this fall 🔥 pic.twitter.com/706dIHVZ52

— UCF Men's Soccer (@UCF_MSoccer) September 9, 2024

His seven assists, good for second-most in the Sun Belt, equated to 0.44 per game as well, just percentage points behind James Madison’s Evan Southern for the league lead.

Muñoz, meanwhile, back in the Black and Gold for his senior campaign, looks to build upon a promising junior 2024 slate abbreviated due to injury. Though the Valencia, Spain native appeared in just nine matches, he set a single-season career best with his 1.11 goals-against average and posted multiple clean sheets for the third time in his three collegiate seasons.

The netminder placed fourth in the Sun Belt overall in goals-against average a season ago, and his career mark of 1.24 ranks seventh-best on the program’s all-time list entering the new year.

Hansen represents the second returning Knight responsible for at least two goals scored last season, netting the first three tallies of his collegiate career after he redshirted and did not see match action during the 2023 campaign. His first career goal came in the Knights’ 1-1 draw with then-No. 23 Seattle Aug. 25, and he later was responsible for both of his team’s goals in UCF’s 2-1 victory over Kentucky Oct. 23, clinching his first career brace in the process.

Drew cashed in on the assist from Pouye 💸 pic.twitter.com/YgcRZAafr7

— UCF Men's Soccer (@UCF_MSoccer) October 24, 2024

The trio will look to lead the squad in improving upon its third-place finish in the 2024 Sun Belt regular-season table, a 5-4-0 effort in league play that clinched UCF’s second top three regular-season finish in as many years since the program joined the Sun Belt prior to the 2023 slate.

The Knights went unbeaten through their first four matches, including wins over Mercer and UC Irvine and draws with then-No. 23 Seattle and Wake Forest, and later topped Georgia State, Old Dominion, Kentucky, South Carolina and Coastal Carolina in Sun Belt Conference play to finish with at least 15 conference points in both of their first two seasons in the league.

Overall, the Knights return 33 percent of their scoring production from a season ago, with fifth year defender Alex Smith, redshirt junior midfielder/defender Joey Mueller, and senior forward/midfielder Sora Funakoshi each having found the back of the net for UCF in 2024 in addition to Awoudor and Hansen.

UCF this fall will first square off against a Tar Heels squad that received votes in the United Soccer Coaches’ 2025 preseason top 25 after producing a 9-4-5 record throughout the 2024 slate, including a 4-3-1 mark in ACC play, en route to hosting the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Though the squad was eliminated in penalty kicks to Furman in Chapel Hill Nov. 21, North Carolina still authored its fifth straight eight-plus-win season under veteran head coach Carlos Somoano.

The Tar Heels under Somoano last season committed the fourth-fewest fouls per game, at an even 11.0, and boasted the fifth-best goal differential in the 15-team league with a mark of +16 on the strength of a stingy defensive corps that surrendered the second-lowest goals-against average in the ACC, a .933 mark that also ranked 22nd in the nation.

The contest will mark the eighth all-time matchup between the two programs, with the Knights in search of their fourth win in the series. UCF earned its first victory over North Carolina in the Scott Calabrese era in the teams’ last meeting, a 2-1 Knights win in Chapel Hill Sept. 1, 2019.

Cal Jennings and Gianluca Arcangeli were responsible for the two UCF goals, both in the second half, while Yannik Oettl saved five of the Tar Heels’ six shots on goal, including a perfect 4-for-4 second-half display, to preserve the Black and Gold’s one-goal win.

Kickoff for UCF’s season-opener against the Tar Heels is set for 7:30 p.m. from Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and will be streamed on ESPN+.

TICKETS
UCF men’s soccer season and single-game tickets are on sale now. Please visit ucfknights.com/tickets for more information or call the ticket office at (407) 823-1000.

ABOUT UCF ATHLETICS
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.