UCF-NY Red Bulls - (2/20/16) - Images by UCF Knights
CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - UCF went up against Major League Soccer's (MLS) New York Red Bulls on Saturday afternoon at the Championsgate Soccer Complex. The Knights came up short 5-2 in the contest, but showed improvement in their second match of the spring.
"Overall, I was definitely pleased with our performance today," head coach Bryan Cunningham said. "We played against the New York Red Bull first team for a majority of the game until about 20-25 minutes left. I was pleased with our effort and understanding of what was going on in the match. We were focused on what we were doing and trying to accomplish our goals for the match."
The first goal for UCF came off the foot on sophomore Jakov Basic, who converted a penalty about halfway through the first half to tie it, 1-1. The Red Bulls quickly responded to retake the lead and added a marker just before halftime.
"We tried to press and do a lot of the little things right that will help us move forward during the spring season," Cunningham said. "Most importantly, these aer things that we can always look back on and rely on during the fall."
The Knights cut the lead to 3-2 early in the second half as a UCF player was taken down in the box. Sophomore Matias Pyysalo stepped up and chipped a shot over the diving goalkeeper.
"We had a great week of practice after being a little too passive in our spring opener," Cunningham said. "We are a young group comprised of freshmen and sophomores. Today, we learned how to press them. It was important for our team to learn that even great soccer players can be forced into doing things that we want them to do."
Another week of practice is in store for UCF before going up against a combination of Orlando City and Orlando City B players on Feb. 28 at Sylvan Lake Park.