ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - UCF men's soccer head coach Bryan Cunningham released the Knights' 2016 slate on Thursday, which includes eight home games and two exhibition matches at the UCF Soccer Complex. The home opener for the Knights is set for Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. against Florida Gulf Coast.
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UCF, which is presented by Napleton's Volkswagen, faces seven squads that competed in the 2015 NCAA Championship, which includes home matches against North Florida (9/21), South Florida (9/24), SMU (10/1) and UConn (10/22) at the UCF Soccer Complex. UNC Charlotte (9/2), Tulsa (10/15) and FIU (10/25) are set to host the Knights.
"We are playing a challenging non-conference schedule that will prepare us for conference play and place us in a position to advance to the NCAA Tournament," Cunningham said. "Our home schedule is favorable in regards to balancing conference and non-conference foes."
This year, the American Athletic Conference has moved to an unbalanced schedule model, which for UCF features four home and three away matches. Only the top four squads in the eight-team league advance to The American Championship that is hosted by the regular season champion.
"The goal for our team is always to win the league and host the championship here at UCF," Cunningham said. "With a veteran squad, we feel strongly that our team is ready to take on the rigors of this slate that features 10 teams ranked in the Top-75 of last year's RPI."
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After hosting exhibition matches against Tampa (8/16) and Florida Southern (8/21), UCF begins the slate at Grand Canyon on Aug. 26, which is the inaugural game in the new 5,000-seat GCU Soccer Stadium.
The road trip for UCF continues on Sept. 2 at UNC Charlotte, a perennial Top-25 squad in Conference USA. A stop at Mercer on Sept. 11 concludes a stretch of three away matches to begin the year.
The Knights kick off a six-match homestand on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. against Florida Gulf Coast. Jacksonville (9/17) and North Florida (9/21) are the final tune ups before starting league play.
Rival South Florida comes to Orlando on Sept. 24 to begin conference play. The Knights face SMU on Oct. 1 before Northwestern rounds out the homestand on Oct. 5.
A stretch of six road matches in a seven-game stretch starts with league meetings at Memphis (10/8) and Tulsa (10/15). The Knights head to Stetson (10/18) before welcoming UConn to the UCF Soccer Complex on Oct. 22.
After traveling to FIU (10/25), Temple (10/29) and Florida Atlantic (11/2), UCF concludes the regular season at home on Nov. 5 against Cincinnati.
The American Championship is set for Nov. 11-13 at the site of the No. 1 seed. The new format features just the top four teams competing for the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
UCF posted a 7-8-2 mark in the league during the 2015 campaign and finished fifth in the league with a 3-4-1 mark. Despite losing striker Hadji Barry to Orlando City in the MLS SuperDraft, the Knights return nine starters and 14 letterwinners.