ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Highlighted by nine home matches, the UCF men’s soccer team has announced its 2019 regular season schedule. The 16-match slate is highlighted by four NCAA tournament teams, including two national seeds.
“We have assembled an exciting and incredibly challenging schedule for 2019,” said head coach Scott Calabrese, “We test ourselves right away when we open against Wake Forest followed by the Tarheels of UNC. We have an exciting home schedule as well with Penn State, VCU, UTRGV and South Carolina all in the early part of September.”
The Knights will begin their 2019 season with two home exhibition matches, one against Eastern Florida with the other against FIU, before opening up their 16-match regular season schedule. UCF will open the season on the road against two national seeds from the NCAA tournament as the Knights visit Wake Forest on August 30. The Demon Deacons were the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in 2018. Two days later, the Knights will head to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina, who was the No. 5 national seed in last year’s tournament.
Both Wake Forest and North Carolina sat in the top-10 in RPI at the end of last season. The Knights will face 10 top-100 RPI teams in their 16 matches, with seven of those ten in the top-75. In addition to Wake Forest and North Carolina making the NCAA tournament last season, conference foes SMU and UConn also reached the big dance as UCF will travel to face them in October.
UCF looks to reach the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season, a feat they haven’t accomplished since the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The Knights will attempt to defend their 2019 American Athletic Conference regular season crown after going 5-1-1 last year. The Black and Gold fell short in the conference tournament in 2018 and look to earn their first tournament championship in the American this season.
BY THE NUMBERS
9 home matches
4 matches against NCAA tournament teams
2 matches against NCAA tournament national seeds
2 matches against top-10 RPI teams
5 matches against top-50 RPI teams
7 matches against top-75 RPI teams
10 matches against top-100 RPI teams
KEY CLASHES
at Wake Forest, August 30, 6:00 p.m.
The Knights will begin their season on the road against Wake Forest, last year’s No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Demon Deacons ended the 2018 season with the second highest RPI in the nation but were eliminated from the NCAA tournament by the eventual national runner up in the round of 16. This will be just the third time the two programs collide on the soccer pitch.
vs. Penn State, September 6, 7:00 p.m.
UCF opens their home slate against Penn State as they pay a visit to Orlando for the first time since 2008. The two teams have only met twice, the last meeting resulting in a 2-1 overtime win for the Black and Gold to begin the 2018 campaign.
vs. South Carolina, September 22, 6:00 p.m.
The South Carolina Gamecocks will make their way to Orlando for the first time since 2011 and open the second three-match homestand of the season for UCF. The last time that UCF played an SEC team was back in 2016 when they played South Carolina on the road.
at SMU, October 6, 8:00 p.m.
Last year's AAC Championship finalists will square off in Dallas as UCF will travel to take on SMU just after the midway point of the season. The Mustangs took the AAC tournament crown in PK's against UCF as they won 5-4 in the penalty kick segment. SMU was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the hands of Oregon State by a score of 2-1.
at UConn, October 20, 7:00 p.m.
UCF crossed paths with UConn twice last season. Both matches went to double overtime with the first resulting in a 0-0 draw late in the regular season. The two teams met again in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals where the Knights prevailed by a score of 3-2. UCF stormed back from going down 2-0 before halftime with three goals from the 48-minute mark on. UConn finished last season ranked twenty-sixth in RPI.
War On I-4, at South Florida, October 26, 7:00 p.m.
The Knights will travel west on I-4 to take on rival USF. The Black and Gold will look to make it back to back victories against the Bulls as UCF took a 2-1 victory in Tampa late last season. Their win on the soccer pitch helped UCF as a whole dominate the War On I-4 series by a count of 70-14. The Knights look to continue that trend into the 2019 campaign.
SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets for the 2019 men's soccer season are available now. To catch every moment on the pitch this year, click here.
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