– The 2017 American Athletic Conference (AAC) Offensive Player of the Year, Morgan Ferrara, has joined the Eastern Kentucky University soccer staff as a graduate assistant, head coachannounced on Thursday.Ferrara is fresh off a standout career at the University of Central Florida. She was voted the AAC Offensive Player of the Year and to the United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region First Team after leading the Knights with 13 goals and three assists in 2017.The native of Tampa, Florida started all 18 games and finished the year with six game-winning goals, tied for second-most in a single season at UCF.Her performance led the Knights to a 13-2-3 (7-0-2 AAC) record and the 2017 AAC Regular Season Championship.Ferrara earned second team All-AAC honors as a junior after recording seven goals and one assist in 2016."Morgan comes to us after having great success, both on and off the field, at UCF, and she has gained an incredible reputation as a player and person from coaches and teammates," Flohre said. "After speaking with her and reaching out to references with glowing reviews, it was an easy decision to ask her to join our staff. Morgan is a soccer junkie and brings great attacking knowledge and ideas with her that will help our attacking players fine-tune their abilities."Off the field, Ferrara was just as impressive. She carried a 3.89 GPA through her undergraduate career and graduated in May of 2018 with a degree in sport and exercise science (human performance). She was also a 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year finalist and the president of UCF's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In the summer of 2017, Ferrara was one of 300 student-athletes from around the country selected to attend the NCAA Career in Sports Forum, where she spent four days learning valuable leadership techniques in Indianapolis."Morgan will be a great role model for our team," Flohre added. "Having been the president of UCF's SAAC, she has gained invaluable leadership experience and was a true student-athlete during her undergrad years. We are extremely excited to have Morgan joining our program!"Ferrara will be joining one of the top programs in the Ohio Valley Conference, as the Colonels have advanced to the OVC title game in each of the past two seasons.