2019 UNITED SOCCER COACHES MEN'S ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - For the third time in the conference’s seven-year history, the American Athletic Conference saw three men’s soccer standouts earn United Soccer Coaches All-America honors.
UCF senior forward Cal Jennings and SMU senior defender Eddie Munjoma were both named First Team All-Americans, while SMU sophomore midfielder Gabriel Costa was tabbed to the Third Team. With Jennings and Munjoma’s selections, The American places two on the First Team for the first time.
All three players garnered major conference awards this season, with Jennings earning Offensive Player of the Year, Munjoma Defensive Player of the Year and Costa Midfielder of the Year.
Jennings is now a back-to-back First Team All-American, and previously was recognized as an Academic All-American earlier this month. He closes his prolific career as a Knight with 46 goals and 108 points, tying for the American Athletic Conference career record in the former category. This season, he found the net a league-best 18 times and added four assists for 40 points (2.00 per game). Jennings becomes the second player in conference history to earn First Team All-America honors twice.
Munjoma earns a first team All-American spot for the first time in his career. His 12 goals and 32 points were the second most on an SMU team that scored the second most goals in the country, and he was part of a backline that allowed a conference-low 12 goals in the regular season. Munjoma's career year saw him earn multiple weekly and yearly honors. He becomes the first SMU men's soccer player to earn first team honors since Mauro Cichero in 2017, and is the 17th Mustang to be named a first team All-American all-time.
Jennings and Munjoma represented The American as the conference’s two semifinalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy.
Costa earned All-America honors with an appearance on the third team after his first year on the Hilltop. The Rio de Janeiro native scored nine goals and dished out 11 assists in just 18 games. His 0.61 assists per game are the third most in the country and he scored two crucial goals during the Mustangs' run to the Elite Eight.
Costa's selection is the first of his career, but he joins 10 other Mustangs all-time on the third team All-America team, with the most recent selections going to Jordan Cano and Garrett McLaughlin in 2017.
Courtesy smumustangs.com