2018 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season
The 2018 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season was the 6th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began on August 24 and concluded on November 11, 2018.
The 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 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 received at-large berths into the tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, SMU lost in the first round to Oregon State. Connecticut beat rivals, Rhode Island, in the first round, before losing to Indiana in the second round. UCF was one of the 16 seeded teams, allowing them to earn a bye into the second round. There, they lost in overtime to Lipscomb.
Following the season, Cal Jennings won the Offensive MVP award for the conference. Jacob Hauser-Ramsey of Connecticut won the Defensive MVP. Fellow UCF players, Louis Perez, Yannik Oettl, and Scott Calabrese 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 was the first AAC player to be drafted in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, when he was selected by the LA Galaxy with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the draft.
Background
Head coaches
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | American record | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| Cincinnati | Hylton Dayes | Wright State | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Connecticut | Ray Reid | Southern Connecticut | 22 | 16 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Memphis | Richard Mulrooney | Memphis | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| SMU | Kevin Hudson | SMU | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| South Florida | Bob Butehorn | Florida Gulf Coast | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Temple | Dave MacWilliams | Philadelphia KiXX | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Tulsa | Tom McIntosh | Tulsa | 22 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |||
| UCF | Scott Calabrese | FIU | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Preseason
Preseason poll
The preseason poll will be released on August 14, 2018. UCF was picked to win the regular season.Preseason national rankings
Two of the programs were ranked in one of the five major preseason polls. CollegeSoccerNews.com and Hero Sports use a Top 30 ranking throughout the season, while United Soccer, Soccer America, and Top Drawer Soccer use a Top 25 ranking throughout the season.| United Soccer | CSN | Hero Sports | Soccer America | TopDrawer Soccer | |
| Cincinnati | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Connecticut | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Memphis | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| SMU | 8 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| South Florida | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Temple | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Tulsa | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| UCF | NR | NR | 26 | NR | NR |
Preseason All-Conference teams
| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Offensive Player of the Year | Garrett McLaughlin, SMU |
| Preseason Defensive Player of the Year | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey, Connecticut |
| Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year | Christian Knight, South Florida |
;Preseason All-AAC Team
Regular season
Players of the Week
Rankings
United Soccer">United Soccer Coaches">United Soccer
Top Drawer Soccer
Postseason
AAC Tournament
The 2018 Tournament will be held at the home ground of the regular season winner.NCAA Tournament
| Seed | Region | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| 14 | 3 | UCF | BYE | L 0–1 vs. Lipscomb – | ||||
| - | 1 | SMU | L 1–2 vs. Oregon State – | |||||
| - | 4 | Connecticut | W 4–3 vs. Rhode Island – | L 0–4 vs. #2 Indiana – | ||||
| W–L : | Total: |
Postseason awards and honors
Conference honors
denotes unanimous selectionRegional honors
National honors
| Player | School | Honor | ||
| Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | College Soccer News First-Team All-America | |
| Cal Jennings | FW | UCF | USC First-Team All-American | |
| Louis Perez | MF | UCF | USC Third-Team All-American |
American vs other conferences
Regular Season| Conference | Record |
| ACC | 1–3–1 |
| Atlantic 10 | 1–2–2 |
| Atlantic Sun | 8–1–0 |
| Big East | 0–5–1 |
| Big South | 0–0–0 |
| Big Ten | 3–3–1 |
| Big West | 0–1–0 |
| CAA | 0–0–0 |
| Conference USA | 4–0–1 |
| Horizon | 2–1–0 |
| Ivy | 1–1–0 |
| MAAC | 2–0–0 |
| Mid-American | 1–3–1 |
| Missouri Valley | 0–1–3 |
| NEC | 2–0–0 |
| Pac-12 | 0–0–0 |
| Patriot | 2–0–0 |
| Southland | 0–0–0 |
| Summit | 0–3–0 |
| West Coast | 1–0–0 |
| WAC | 2–2–0 |
| Total Non-Conference Record | 32–28–10 |
Post Season
MLS SuperDraft
Total picks by school
| Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
| Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connecticut | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Memphis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| SMU | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South Florida | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Temple | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tulsa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UCF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
List of selections
| Round | Pick # | MLS team | Player | Position | College | Other | Ref. |
| 1 | 19 | LA Galaxy | Emil Cuello | Midfielder | SMU | ||
| 2 | 42 | Colorado Rapids | Jacob Hauser-Ramsey | Defender | Connecticut | ||
| 4 | 95 | Portland Timbers | David Zalzman | Midfielder | Memphis |
Homegrown contracts
| Original MLS team | Player | Position | College | Notes | Ref. |