Nov. 11, 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
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF men's soccer team will take on Tulsa in Friday night's Conference USA Tournament semifinal matchup from Memphis' Mike Rose Soccer Complex at 8:30 p.m. The second-seeded Knights earned a bye into the semifinals with a 4-1-3 league mark and 15 points in 2010. Tulsa finished sixth and earned the right to play UCF with a 5-0 dismantling of Kentucky in Wednesday's quarterfinals.
Friday night's matchup will mark the first time in program history that the Knights will play the same opponent in consecutive games after taking on the Golden Hurricane in the final game of the regular season last Friday in Tulsa. The teams played to a 1-1 draw after freshman Christian Eissele (Lake Mary, Fla.) tied the game in the 39th minute to help the Knights secure the No. 2 seed and the first-round bye.
In that game, sophomore goalkeeper Shawn Doyle (Ft. Myers, Fla.) stopped a career-high 11 shots. Included in that total were five in the two overtime sessions. Doyle turned aside two shots in the first extra frame before stopping three more in the final 10-minute period.
UCF enters the game having wrapped up their most successful season in C-USA with the 4-1-3 league mark and an overall record of 11-3-3. Earlier this week, six members of the Knights were honored by the league's coaches with spots on the all-conference teams. Sophomore Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) and juniors Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.) and Kevan George (Roxborough, Trinidad) were all named to the league's first team. Senior captain Yaron Bacher (Atlanta, Ga.) and Doyle were honored with spots on the second and third teams, respectively. Steven Lamberta (Temecula, Calif.) was the final UCF player honored, landing on the All-Freshman Team.
Tulsa comes into the game as the three-time defending C-USA Tournament champions. After tying UCF, 1-1, to end the regular season, the Mustangs used four-second half goals to cruise past Kentucky in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch with the Knights.
Top-seeded SMU will take on South Carolina in Friday's first semifinal matchup in Memphis. SMU earned the bye with the No. 1 seed, while South Carolina defeated UAB, 2-1, Wednesday in an evenly-matched game.
Friday's winners will play Sunday at 3 p.m. EST in the C-USA Championship Game that can be seen nationally on CBS College Sports.