ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The Knights used a pair of second-half tallies from juniors Walker Dawkins and Matias Pyysalo to register a come-from-behind victory on March 25 against Stetson at the UCF Training Field.
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"The guys responded well with a good week of practice leading up to the Stetson match," head coach Bryan Cunningham. "It was disappointing to go a goal down, but I am really proud of how the guys dealt with that adversity and showed some resilience."
The Hatters opened the scoring late in the first half by scoring against the run of play, but coach Cunningham was impressed with the way his team responded and how the squad played throughout the match.
"The players are really showing their maturity right now in not losing faith in what we were doing," Cunningham added. "They stuck with it and were able to get the two goals in the second half to notch the win, which I think was great for our confidence."
Pyysalo converted a penalty kick to knot the match 1-1 about 10 minutes into the second stanza. The game-winning goal came off the foot of Dawkins after a cross through the box with about 25 minutes remaining.
The emphasis for the Knights going into their final week of spring practice, which is capped by a contest against Florida Southern on Friday at 6 p.m. at the UCF Soccer Complex, is to continue their workmanlike approach.
"We have been sticking with three core ideas for every match," Cunningham said. "This week will be no different. We will have our three cornerstones of what we need to do in order to be successful. We really have to be sure to put our imprint on the match."