Oct. 13, 2010
="" alt="Knight Head" border="0" class="imported"> Read John Denton's Knights Insider | ="" alt="Twitter Logo" border="0" class="imported">Follow us on Twitter | ="" alt="Facebook Logo" border="0" class="imported">Get social with the Knights on Facebook
By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. (UCFAthletics.com) - Junior Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.) scored in the 73rd minute to help the No. 23 UCF men's soccer team remain unbeaten in Conference USA play with a 1-1 tie at Kentucky Wednesday night. The tie was the first of the season for the Knights who are now 4-0-1 in C-USA and 8-2-1 overall. Kentucky is 4-6-2 overall and 1-1-1 in league play after the draw.
"It's never easy to go down a goal that early in the game," head coach Bryan Cunningham said. "I give the players a lot of credit for battling back and earning the point."
The goal was Creavalle's third of the season and second in as many games after netting the game winner against Memphis Saturday night in the team's last game, a 3-0 win.
The Knights fell behind in the very early stages of the game. Kentucky's Sam Brooks put the Wildcats on the board in just the third minute of the match with the opening tally.
It would take nearly 70 minutes of action for UCF to even the score at 1-1. Eduardo Jimenez (San Juan, Puerto Rico) collected an assist on the goal, passing the ball to Creavalle in the penalty box. The third-year midfielder beat two Kentucky defenders before putting the equalizer in the far corner.
Jimenez now has points in each of the last three games, including assists in the last two contests following his first career goal last week against FIU.
UCF goalkeeper Shawn Doyle (Ft. Myers, Fla.) was a major reason the Knights were able to earn the tie, stopping seven shots in the game. The current C-USA Defender of the Week set a new season high with the seven saves Wednesday night.
"This is a very tough conference," Cunningham said. "This team should feel good about coming back to earn a tie in a tough conference game like tonight."
The Knights return to action on Saturday night when they travel to take on South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. The C-USA matchup is set to kickoff at 7 p.m.