Emmanuel Petrov (born on April 5, 2001) is an American footballer who plays NCAA Division I college soccer for UC Santa Barbara and semi-professionally for Tobacco Road in the USL League Two. Petrov is commonly known by his nickname, Manny.
He led the Ravenscroft Varsity Soccer Team for his four years of high school, earning state, regional, and national recognition.
Petrov was selected for the 2018 High School All-American Game and was the recipient of the 2018-19 United Soccer Coaches All-American and Scholar All-American awards for boys' soccer. Both awards are nationally recognized honors given to the very best high school and college soccer players in the United States.
Career
Born in North Carolina, Emmanuel Petrov started his early career with North Carolina FC and progressed through the North Carolina FC Youth pre-academy teams, playing in the US Youth Soccer National League and ECNL divisions. Petrov finished his North Carolina FC youth career with 93 goals in 99 appearances.
While playing for North Carolina FC, Petrov joined the Ravenscroft Varsity Soccer Team in 2015, making an immediate impact in the highly competitive NCISAA 4A division. In 2018, Petrov helped Ravenscroft reach their first NCISAA State Finals since 2002 and attain top state, regional, and national team ranking for the first time in school history. Petrov set a single-season school record with 26 goals and 10 assists in 19 appearances, scoring a total of 5 goals in the 2018 NCISAA 4A State Playoffs with 1 goal in the NCISAA TISAC Final.
Petrov was awarded the 2018 NCISAA TISAC Player of the Year award and received the prestigious 2018-19 United Soccer Coaches All-Mid-Atlantic, All-American, and Scholar All-American honors. Petrov finished his Ravenscroft varsity career with 81 goals and 70 appearances, setting the school's career goal record.
On June 29, 2019, Petrov captained the North Carolina All-Star team against South Carolina in the Clash of the Carolinas - the nation's only interstate prep soccer all-star match. Petrov scored a goal and was named Most Valuable Player.
In total, Petrov scored 174 goals in 169 games at Ravenscroft and for North Carolina FC during his four-year high school and club career.
Ranked as a top-15 Forward in the South Atlantic and top-45 Forward nationally in the 2019 Top Drawer Soccer's IMG Academy Top 150 player rankings, Petrov committed to playing college soccer in the Patriot League for the Holy Cross Men's Soccer program beginning in the 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season.
On September 6, 2019, Petrov made his home collegiate debut for Holy Cross against UMass Lowell, scoring his first collegiate goal. During the remaining 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season, Petrov recorded 17 appearances and 5 starts, scoring 3 goals against UMass Lowell (American East Conference), Rhode Island (Atlantic 10 Conference), and Lehigh (Patriot League Conference).
Petrov was recognized in the New England Soccer Journal as a freshman standout and was named to the All-Patriot League Men's Soccer Academic Honor Roll.
After entering the NCAA transfer portal in November 2019, Petrov committed to continuing his collegiate career in the Big West Conference with UC Santa Barbara - a nationally top-ranked NCAA Division I men's soccer program.
Petrov's 2020 Big West season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the Fall of 2020, Petrov trained with the USL Championship North Carolina FC U19 Professional Academy and returned to UC Santa Barbara for the 2021 Spring season.