UConn Men’s Soccer Tops AAC Coaches’ Poll

On Tuesday, the American Athletic Conference released the results of its men’s soccer preseason coaches’ poll as well as individual preseason awards. UConn grabbed four of the eight first-place votes and had a total of 45 points, finishing first in the poll.

Tulsa follows close behind with 43 points (one first-place vote) and USF is third with 34 points (two first-place votes). UCF, voted to finish fourth, has 29 points and SMU (one first-place vote) grabbed 27 points.

Temple (20 points), Cincinnati (18 points) and Memphis (eight points) round out the poll.

Despite the high praise from the conferences’ coaches, the players don’t take too much stock in it.

“That means absolutely nothing,” redshirt senior Scott Levene said. “At the end of the day, it’s about who wins it. We haven’t been able to win the conference and that’s something we need to get back to.”

UConn also had three players on the 14-man all-conference team, one behind SMU’s conference-high of four members.

Captain and junior defender Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, redshirt junior defender Dylan Greenberg and junior forward Abdou Mbacke Thiam were all selected to the team, with Mbacke Thiam’s selection coming unanimously.

“I try not to pay attention to that stuff,” Hauser-Ramsey said. “I just try to do the best I can every day and keep a level head.”

UConn will continue their preseason with an exhibition against NC State on Saturday night at Morrone Stadium with a 7 p.m. kickoff.