Cal Jennings is on a Rampage

UCF’s Cal Jennings is on a scoring rampage the likes of which has not been seen at UCF in two decades.

Jennings recorded his third hat trick of the season against FGCU Tuesday night, leading UCF to a 5-1 victory over FGCU in Men’s Soccer action at the UCF Track and Soccer Complex.

Jennings now has 17 goals on the season, which is the third-best all-time at UCF behind Hall of Famer Heikki Ritvanen, who posted 24 goals in a season twice, in 1996 and 1998. It’s also the all-time single-season individual record in American Athletic Conference history.

Here are all three of Jennings’ goals:

Incredibly, Jennings is still in second place in the nation this year behind Andre Shinyashiki of the University of Denver. A graduate of the prestigious academy at Montverde Academy just outside of Orlando, Shinyashiki has 21 goals on the year for the 10-2-2 Pioneers by way of seven multi-goal games, including three hat tricks and a four-goal game on September 22nd. However, he has not scored since October 5th.

As a team, UCF is one of the top ten squads in the nation in goals and shots. The Knights are fourth in the nation with 35 total goals, and are now 9-2-2 overall. However, they’re still tied for third in The American at 2-1-1 with three matches to go in the conference, behind UConn and USF, who are both 2-0-2 and tied for first. The top overall seed in The American hosts the conference tournament, scheduled for November 6-10.

Nationally, UCF is 23rd in the latest RPI and 19th in the United Soccer Coaches’ Poll.

UCF plays USF at home next on Saturday, October 20th at 7 p.m.