July 25, 2011
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With fall right around the corner, the UCF men's soccer program and head coach Bryan Cunningham have announced the team's 2011 schedule. One season removed from a berth in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, the Knights will once again feature an exciting and challenging slate of games in the upcoming season.
Following one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation last season, UCF will play an 18-game regular-season schedule against some of the top teams in the country from a year ago, including three that qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
The schedule gets underway with a road contest at Jacksonville on Friday, August 26. UCF then returns home for three-straight home games in a five-day period as UMass (Sept. 2), Belmont (Sept. 4) and North Florida (Sept. 7) all come to play in the newly expanded UCF Soccer and Track Stadium.
Following the short homestand, the Knights are back on the road at Mercer on Sunday, Sept. 11 for the start of a three-game road trip. After taking on the Bears in Macon, Ga., UCF will head to the Washington D.C. area to play two games over the course of the weekend against George Mason (Sept. 16) and American (Sept. 18). The team's final nonconference game prior to the start of league contests comes at home against Florida Gulf Coast (Sept. 23), another team that had a huge turnaround in 2010.
The Conference USA schedule kicks off in Orlando on Wednesday, Sept. 28 against Kentucky. After the Wildcats, UCF will head to Dallas to take on SMU on Saturday, Oct. 1. Last season, the Knights knocked off the then-No. 5 Mustangs, 2-1, on a late goal from Spencer Scott, marking the first win over a Top 10 team in program.
UCF will host three more C-USA home games the rest of the way as South Carolina (Oct. 8), Tulsa (Oct. 22) and Marshall (Nov. 5) will all come to Orlando in 2011.
After playing at SMU to open the month, the Knights will also travel to C-USA opponents FIU (Oct. 11), UAB (Oct. 15) and Memphis (Oct. 29) to conclude October.
Two nonconference road games are also in store for UCF late in the season as trips to Stetson (Oct. 25) and FAU (Nov. 1) are on the schedule.
The 2011 C-USA Championship will be hosted by Tulsa, Nov. 9-13 at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium.
This year's College Cup will be played at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., Dec. 9 and 11 following the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The selection of UAB as the host marks the first time the College Cup will be played in the state of Alabama.
Exhibition home games against Tampa (Aug. 17) and St. Leo (Aug. 20) are also on tap for the Knights before starting the regular season.