ORLANDO, Florida. - Cal Jennings may be loud on the pitch for the University of Central Florida, but what about off of it?
- Jennings registered two hat tricks before October
- Sanders followed with two of her own
- Both teams ranked nationally
“Anytime Cal gets interviewed, the first thing that Cal wants to do is, he wants to give credits to his teammates,” men's soccer head coach Scott Calabrese said.
It's safe to say he knows his players.
“Honestly, I’m just really happy to be out there contributing to the team and scoring," Jennings said. "They create a lot of opportunities for me.”
Jennings has had plenty of opportunities in fact. So many, the junior striker has registered 14 goals on the year, two of which were hat tricks. That's enough to impress everyone, including the powerhouse women's squad.
“We were like, oh my God, he’s so good," women's striker Stefanie Sanders said. "He scored two hat tricks. I mean, you don’t really think about, oh I want to score two hat tricks too, it just happens.”
Funny she should mention that. They do. Days after Jennings would register his second, Sanders would score six goals across two games, two hat tricks of her own. What are the odds?
“I would think they’re not very high," Jennings said. "Stef’s done a fantastic job and she’s a great player, so I’m not surprised that she’s scoring hat tricks too.“
“Everyone was like, congrats on your hat tricks, but, I’m a striker, so I’m supposed to score. I don’t know," she said.
It's a historic accomplishment for both programs, but it's also a sign of the kinship between the two.
“We really try to support each other whenever possible," Calabrese said. "I think our guys are always out at their games, they’re always out at our games. We’re always talking about how the other is doing. So I think that’s what’s really exciting."
And maybe, if the goals keep coming, fans will learn other things about the squads.
“Everybody wants to come out and see the goals," Jennings said. :But I think coming out to see the goals, they’ll also realize that even the parts where we’re not scoring, we’re still playing really nice soccer, have some fantastic players who are putting on a show."
