Oct. 25, 2010
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Prior to the start of Tuesday night's contest with Stetson, the No. 23 UCF men's soccer team will honor Yaron Bacher (Atlanta, Ga.), Camilo Rendon (Miami, Fla.) and Josh Andone (Orange Park, Fla.) as part of senior day ceremonies. The three have helped the Knights to a 9-2-2 overall mark in their final season at UCF and a spot atop the Conference USA standings at 4-0-2 in league play.
The Knights come into Tuesday night's game with a much-deserved week-long break. After sweeping a three-game homestand, UCF went back out on the road for three-straight games. The trip began with consecutive 1-1 ties at C-USA foes Kentucky and South Carolina. In both games, the Knights fell behind early before earning the point with the equalizing goal.
In the final matchup of the three-game road trip, UCF traveled to Blacksburg, Va., to take on Virginia Tech. In stark contrast to the previous two games that were defense oriented, the Knights came out firing with three first-half goals against the Hokies. Luiz Yamashita (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored one of the four UCF tallies in the game against his former team, after having transferred from VT prior to the 2009 season. The Knights would hold off the Hokies to take the game, 4-2, pushing their unbeaten streak to eight games (6-0-2).
The eight-game unbeaten streak is the longest for the program since the mid 1980s. In 1985, UCF put together a 5-0-3 run over an eight-game stretch. Coming into Tuesday's game, UCF has outscored its opponents 16-1 at home this year. The only goal that the Knights have allowed on their home field came in a 2-1 win against No. 5 SMU.
Stetson enters the game with a mark of 8-4-1 overall and are 5-2-0 in A-Sun play. In the team's most recent game, the Hatters fell to Florida Gulf Coast, 1-0, in the first overtime period after a scoreless regulation. Fredrik Brustad leads Stetson in scoring with 18 points on six goals and six assists. Second on the team in scoring, but leading the team in assists is Jonathan Mendoza with 10 assists to go with his three goals for 16 points.
Tuesday's game also marks the beginning of the second three-game homestand for the Knights in 2010. After taking on Stetson, UCF will play host to UAB on Friday, Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m. The game with the Blazers marks the final C-USA home game of the season for the Knights who will play the home finale against North Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
The first 50 fans in attendance Tuesday night will receive a UCF Soccer t-shirt.