Nov. 7, 2011
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By Doug Richards
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - On Wednesday, the No. 13 UCF men's soccer team will open play at the Conference USA Championship in Tulsa, Okla., with a quarterfinal contest against Memphis. The match between the No. 3 seed Knights and No. 6 seed Tigers will begin at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
UCF went 10-4-3 overall during the regular season and posted a 4-3-1 mark in C-USA action. The Knights are coming off of a 2-0 win over visiting Marshall Saturday. Senior Kevan George (Roxborough, Trinidad) and junior Nik Robson (Bucklands Beach, New Zealand) both scored for the Knights.
The winner of the UCF-Memphis game will advance to Friday's semifinals to face No. 2 seed UAB. The championship contest is slated for Sunday afternoon on CBS Sports Network. The tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
UCF has enjoyed great success this season, spending the entire campaign in the top-25 nationally. The Knights, who were ranked as high as No. 6, have now posted back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since joining C-USA in 2005. UCF won 12 games a year ago and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship.
Memphis is 11-5-1 overall and went 4-4-0 in league games. The Tigers posted a 3-2 win over the Knights in Memphis on Oct. 29. The Knights got within a goal in the 80th minute when sophomore Steven Lamberta (Temecula, Calif.) scored, but Memphis held on for the victory.
The Tigers are led by Mark Sherrod, who paces C-USA in goals with 19 in 17 contests. Sherrod has 42 points on the year.
Robson totaled five goals in UCF's eight league matches. He has nine scores in 2011. Sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica) leads the team with 12 goals and 27 points in only 13 games. During the year, UCF has recorded 32 goals, while allowing just 17 scores.
The Knights are 4-2-3 away from Orlando this season. When the Knights face Tulsa, they will be playing their first neutral-site match of the year.
Live statistics for the match against Memphis will be available at UCFAthletics.com.