The 2020 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season was the 8th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began in February 2021 and concluded in April 2021. The season was originally scheduled to run from August 28, 2020, to November 6, 2020, but was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. UCF are the defending regular season champions and SMU are the defending tournament champions.

Background

Previous season

The 2018 regular season was won by UCF, who finished conference play with a 5–1–1 record, and won on tiebreakers against SMU. SMU won the 2018 American Tournament, defeating UCF 5–4 in penalty kicks following a 1–1 draw in regulation and overtime. SMU earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, while UCF and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

received at-large berths into the tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, SMU lost in the first round to

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. Connecticut beat

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, in the first round, before losing to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

in the second round. UCF was one of the 16 seeded teams (seeded 14th), allowing them to earn a bye into the second round. There, they lost in overtime to Lipscomb. Following the season,

Cal Jennings Cal Jennings (born May 17, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward who currently plays for Tampa Bay Rowdies in the USL Championship. Early life and college Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Jennings attended Roswell H ...

won the Offensive MVP award for the conference.

Jacob Hauser-Ramsey Jacob Hauser-Ramsey (born August 4, 1995) is a former American soccer player. Career College & Youth Hauser-Ramsey played fours years of college soccer, beginning at Tyler Junior College, before transferring to the University of Connecticut in ...

of Connecticut won the Defensive MVP. Fellow UCF players, Louis Perez, Yannik Oettl, and

Scott Calabrese Louis Scott Calabrese (born June 2, 1972) is an American former soccer goalkeeper who is currently the head men's soccer coach at University of Central Florida. Playing career Calabrese attended Bryant University from 1990 to 1995. During this ...

won the AAC Midfielder, Goalkeeper, and Coach of the Year awards, respectively. Perez and Jennings were also named All-Americans by United Soccer Coaches.

Emil Cuello Emil Cuello (born 2 January 1997) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Phoenix Rising of the USL Championship. Youth and college Cuello played four-years of college soccer at Southern Methodist Univer ...

was the first AAC player to be drafted in the

2019 MLS SuperDraft The 2019 MLS SuperDraft was the twentieth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is typically held in conjunction with the annual January United Soccer Coaches convention, which in 2019 was held in Chicago, Illinois. The fi ...

, when he was selected by the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the draft.

Program changes

Two AAC programs, UConn and Cincinnati, departed prior to the 2020 season. UConn left for the Big East Conference, and Cincinnati disbanded their men's soccer program due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Head coaches

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on January 25, 2021. SMU was picked to the win the conference.

Preseason national rankings

The preseason national rankings are normally announced in August.

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

, ''

Soccer America ''Soccer America'', the oldest soccer-specific media publisher in the US, was founded in 1971 by Clay Berling in Albany, California. The magazine is headquartered in Oakland, California. History and profile The magazine was founded by Clay Be ...

'', and TopDrawerSoccer.com delayed their Top-25 preseason poll to the start of the spring season. CollegeSoccerNews.com did a Top-30 preseason poll in September 2020. TopDrawer Soccer, Soccer America, and United Soccer Coaches released their rankings in February 2021.

Preseason All-Conference teams

;Preseason All-AAC Team

MLS SuperDraft

Total picks by school

List of selections

Homegrown contracts

The Homegrown Player Rule is a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the

MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada. It takes place in January and is used by teams to select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the l ...

. To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. Players can play

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.

References

External links

American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Athletic Conference Mens Soccer Season 2020 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic