Charlotte 49ers men's soccer

The Charlotte 49ers men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The team has been a member of the NCAA Division I American Conference (American) since the 2022 season—first as an associate member in 2022, and as a full member since 2023. The team plays their home games at Transamerica Field in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2011, the team reached the championship of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship, for the first time in program history.^[2]

Charlotte 49ers men's soccer
Founded	1976; 49 years ago (1976)
University	University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Head coach	Kevin Langan (8th season)
Conference	American
Location	Charlotte, North Carolina
Stadium	Transamerica Field (Capacity: 4,000)
Nickname	49ers
Colors	Green and white[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament runner-up
2011
NCAA Tournament College Cup
1996, 2011
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1996, 2011
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
1992, 1996, 2011
NCAA Tournament appearances
1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024
Conference Tournament championships
1983, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2010, 2013, 2023, 2024
Conference Regular Season championships
1983, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014

History

In 1996, the Charlotte 49ers men's soccer team became the first Conference USA team in any sport to reach the National semi-finals. The Niners won a school record 19 games. They went 7–1 in Conference USA to capture the regular season title. The Niners defeated College of Charleston, Notre Dame and Hartford to reach the national semi-finals before falling to Florida International in front of 20,269 fans in Richmond, Virginia. Goalkeeper Jon Busch becomes the Niners' second first team All-American after recording 12 shutouts and a 0.89 goals against average. Busch also earned Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors. John Tart was named Conference USA Coach of the Year.

The most notable season in Charlotte soccer history came in 2011 when the 49ers became the first team of any sport in school history to reach an NCAA national championship. The team was ranked in the top 25 throughout the entire season thanks to a challenging yet successful non-conference campaign. The Niners finished the regular season with an Atlantic 10 record of 6–1–2 and 13–3–2 record overall. After an early disappointing loss to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament, Charlotte then went on a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. The unseeded Niners defeated Furman, No. 11 UAB, No. 10 Akron, and No. 5 Connecticut to advance to the program's second ever College Cup in Hoover, Alabama. The Niners went on to defeat No. 3 Creighton before falling to No. 1 North Carolina in the national championship game with a score of 1–0.

Charlotte's most recent conference change was announced during the 2021–22 offseason, when it left Conference USA (CUSA) for the American (then known in full as the American Athletic Conference). The decision of the Sun Belt Conference to reinstate its men's soccer league effective with the 2022 season dropped the CUSA men's soccer membership to four.^[3] Of these four schools, three, including Charlotte, were scheduled to move fully to the American in the near future,^[4] with a 2023 entry date later confirmed.^[5] Accordingly, The American brought all four remaining C-USA men's soccer teams into its own soccer league.^[6]

Players

Current roster

As of 21 Sep 2024^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  PUR Eli Mumford 1 GK  GER Leo Stritter 2 DF  GAM Abubacarr Fofana 3 DF  USA Daniel Moore 4 DF  CYP Andreas Evangelou 5 DF  DEN Lasse Laursen 6 DF  CAN Chadi Mayati 7 FW  JPN Natsuki Ogata 8 DF  ITA Alessandro Negri 9 FW  NOR Brigham Larsen 10 MF  JPN Riyon Tori 11 MF  USA Casey McCloskey 12 FW  USA Grant Stewart 13 DF  USA Ryan Dunn 14 DF  USA Ivan Mata

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 FW  SVN Filip Jauk 16 DF  USA Ander Breidsprecher 17 FW  USA Jaedon Richardson 18 FW  CYP Orthodoxos Orthodoxou 19 MF  USA Christian Lee 20 FW  DEN Chris Dommer 22 DF  USA Ian Pilcher 23 MF  USA Ben Fisher 24 MF  IRL Daire McCarthy 26 DF  USA Caleb Hylton 27 MF  CAN Tate Asante 28 MF  USA Cole Trollip 29 FW  USA Sullivan Twill 31 GK  USA Jarrett Wuerslin

Individual career records

Goals # Name Seasons Years Goals 1 Fernando Sosa 1978–81 4 66 2 David Cooper 1985–88 4 40 3 Gabe Garcia 1988–91 4 39 4 Mac Cozier 1992–95 4 34 5 Jimmy Koutsokalis 1977–80 4 29 John Griffith 1983–86 4 29 Matthys Barker 1994–97 4 29 6 Doug Pratt 1991–93 3 28 Mira Mupier 2001–04 4 28 7 Tureh Doh 1979–82 4 27 [8]

Assistances # Name Seasons Years Ass. 1 Mac Cozier 1992–95 4 31 2 Randy Sheen 1990–94 4 28 Matthys Barker 1994–97 4 3 Jimmy Koutsokalis 1977–80 4 26 4 Ian Dennis 1989–93 4 25 5 Fernando Sosa 1978–81 4 24 6 A. Richardson 1987–90 4 22 Jamath Shoffner 1996–99 3 7 John Griffith 1983–86 4 21 Jon Mabee 1995–98 4 Matt Bradner 1995–99 4 [8]

Professional players

Major League Soccer

• Brandt Bronico (Charlotte FC)
• Jon Busch (San Jose Earthquakes)
• Mira Mupier (Chicago Fire)
• Donnie Smith (New England Revolution)
• Callum Montgomery (FC Dallas)
• Elliot Panicco (Nashville SC)

USL Pro

• Andres Cuero (Wilmington Hammerheads)
• Carson Price (San Antonio FC)
• Charles Rodriguez (Wilmington Hammerheads)
• Evan Harding (Richmond Kickers)
• Adam Ruud (Charlotte Eagles)
• Chris Salvaggione (Charlotte Eagles)
• Mike Franks (Wilmington Hammerheads)
• Grady Farmer (Wilmington Hammerheads)
• Dafydd ‘David’ Hughes (Myrtle Beach Seadawgs)
• Ray Tomlin (Virginia Beach Mariners, Colorado Foxes, Atlanta Silverbacks)^[9]

North American Soccer League

• Floyd Franks (Carolina RailHawks FC)
• Giuseppe Gentile (San Antonio Scorpions)
• Tyler Gibson (San Antonio Scorpions)

S.League

• Graham Tatters (Woodlands Wellington FC)

Coaches

All-time head coaches

Coach	Tenure	Record	Conf. results	Gf.	Ga.	NCAA apps.
Ike Gardner	1976–80	47–47–5	6–9–1	238	266
Steve Parker	1981	6–12–0	0–2–0	39	37
Bob Warming	1982–88	67–52–17	16–9–4	306	217
Frank Kohlenstein	1989–94	77–32–12	20–6–6	277	145	3
John Tart	1995–2006	117–92–28	53–40–11	403	318	2
Jeremy Gunn	2006–11	66–26–12	35–13–6	194	105	2
Kevin Langan	2012–Present	86–34–20	38-10-10	~~	~~	6
Totals	1976–2018	526–295–94	228–149–38	1457	1088	7

^[8]