Nov. 8, 2010
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF men's soccer team will play in its first Conference USA Tournament since 2008 when it takes the field in Memphis Friday night at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. The Knights earned the No. 2 seed and a bye into the semifinals with a 4-1-3 conference record and 15 points this season, both new program records. SMU's 7-1 league mark gives the Mustangs the No.1 seed with its lone blemish of the season coming at UCF in early October.
UCF earned the bye on Sunday with a win by Kentucky over South Carolina. Had the Gamecocks won, they would have jumped the Knights and taken the No. 2 seed with 17 points. Needing a Kentucky win or a tie to secure the high seed and the automatic bye into Friday's semifinals, the Knights saw Brendan Murphy score his first-career goal in the 87th minute to lift the Wildcats to the 2-1 victory.
Kentucky's win also helped the Wildcats move up and secure the No. 3 seed, while South Carolina dropped to the No. 4 seed. No. 5 UAB and No. 6 Tulsa round out the six-team field that will be making the trip to Memphis this week.
The Knights play in the second semifinal matchup Friday night at 8:30 p.m. UCF will take on the winner of Wednesday's game between No. 3 Kentucky and No. 6 Tulsa. The Knights played to 1-1 draws with both the Wildcats and Golden Hurricane this season.
No. 1SMU will play the winner of the week's first game between No. 4 South Carolina and No. 5 UAB. The Mustangs defeated both teams in 2010. The first semifinal game is scheduled to start Friday at 5 p.m.
The championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m. and can be seen live on CBS College Sports.
UCF finished the season 11-3-3 overall, its best record in six seasons. The 11 victories marked the first time since joining C-USA in 2005 that the Knights had a double-digit win total. The team concluded the season with just one loss in its final 12 games.
The Knights defeated Long Island, 2-0, in its lone game on a neutral site in 2010.