Sept. 5, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With two goals in less than a minute late in the second half, UCF (1-1-0) broke a 1-1 tie Friday night and defeated visiting North Florida (0-1-0) 3-1 in non-conference men's soccer action at the UCF Soccer Complex. The game was the second of the UCF Fall Classic Friday night as Iona (2-0-0) defeated Georgia Southern (0-1-0) 2-0 in the first contest.
"I am very fortunate to have a great group of guys that buy into our system and make it work," said head coach Bryan Cunningham. "We are only going to get better. We are only about two weeks in right now and again, we started seven freshmen tonight, we started eight freshmen Tuesday, and we are just starting to click."
Knotted in a tie with less than 10 minutes to play, sophomore Cameron Cooksey's (Marietta, Ga.) long throw found sophomore Chris Feigenbaum in the box. Feigenbaum did the rest, chipping the ball to himself and heading it past the keeper for the game-winner.
Freshman Jeffrey Simmons (Monroeville, Pa.) gave the Knights an insurance goal 56 seconds later with his second goal in as many college games. Simmons took a long service into the box by classmate Andrew Quintana (Miami, Fla.) and headed it over the keeper to close out the game's scoring.
"Chris Feigenbaum came on and scored a great goal off the bench and it gave us a huge lift," said Cunningham. "To get that second goal a minute later is going to bode well for us down the road for us. They are going to learn how to win games and that is very important to turn a one goal game into a two goal game.
"When we were recruiting Simmons we noted he had some natural instincts up front. He put himself in some great positions. He could have had a couple more tonight, but he was able to finish the last one and help us get that win."
After holding a slight 6-4 edge in shots at the half, UCF outshot the Ospreys 14-4 in the second 45 minutes to finish with a 20-8 advantage.
UCF opened the game's scoring in the 11th, and for the second-straight game it was a freshman tallying the Knights' first marker. After a foul just outside the box, Nicholas Keown Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) deposited a free kick past the UNF keeper and into to the left corner of the net.
The Ospreys tallied the equalizer in the 28th minute Calvin Lowe stole the ball outside the box and found Frank Dinzey in the box for a header goal.
Freshman Shawn Doyle made four saves in goal for UCF to earn his first collegiate victory.
The Knights get less than 48 hours off before hosting Georgia Southern on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the final game of UCF's home tournament. Iona and UNF will do battle in the day's first game at noon.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
2009 UCF Men's Soccer Game Summary
UNF (0-1-0) vs. UCF (1-1-0)
Date: Sep 04, 2009 Attendance: 513
Weather: clear
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
UNF................. 1 0 - 1
UCF................. 1 2 - 3
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 10:52 UCF ROBSON, Nik (1) (unassisted) - scored on free kick, just outside the box
2. 27:25 UNF DINZEY, Frank (1) (LOWE, Calvin) - stole ball outside box, cross to header
3. 80:20 UCF Feigenbaum, Chris (1) (COOKSEY, Cam) - long throw in close, header past keeper
4. 81:16 UCF SIMMONS, Jeff (2) (Quintana, Andrew) - long free kick to backside, header over goalie
Shots: UNF 8, UCF 20
Saves: UNF 6 (CALISE, Andrew 6), UCF 4 (Doyle, Shawn 4)
Corner Kicks: UNF 1, UCF 6