USF Athletics

An NSCAA First-Team All-American goalkeeper (2009), Jeff Attinella is one of just three student-athletes to receive that honor in USF men’s soccer history. A three-time All-Region selection and three-time Big East All-Conference honoree, earning first-team honors in both in 2009, Attinella played on four NCAA Tournament Teams and helped lead the 2007 team to the NCAA Sweet 16 and the 2008 team to the NCAA Elite Eight.
 
The Clearwater, Fla. native was a stalwart on the Bulls’ 2008 Big East Tournament championship team, earning all-tournament honors, the following year he was named the 2009 Big East Conference Goalkeeper of the Year.
 
Attinella started in 61 games for USF and compiled a school-record 28 career shutouts, including a single-season record 12 in 2008, and never lost a home game in Tampa in his first three years on campus. The 32-match home unbeaten streak was the third-longest in NCAA history at the time. He ended his career 38-14-9 overall record.
 
Attinella went on to be a first-round MLS Supplemental Draft selection and 14^th overall pick by Real Salt Lake in 2011 and produced an 11-year professional soccer career (2011-21). He signed with FC Tampa Bay and then went on to play every minute of every match for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the 2012 NASL season, earning five Defensive Player of the Week honors and one NASL Player of the Month before being named to the 2012 NASL Best XI. He saved three penalty kicks in the Rowdies’ 2012 NASL championship victory against the Minnesota Stars FC.
 
He eventually signed with Real Salt Lake and made 29 appearances for them, helping them with an MLS Western Conference title (2013), before being selected in the 2016 MLS Expansion Draft by Minnesota and being traded to the Portland Timbers. He made 52 appearances for the Timbers and helped them win a Western Conference championship (2018). In all, he made 141 appearances in professional soccer.
 
In 2020, Attinella became an author and began publishing children’s books centered on iconic sports moments. He was inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame in the Class of 2023.