ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – After finishing their first homestand unbeaten, the No. 13 UCF men's soccer team will begin their second homestand of the season as they host the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday at 6 p.m.
The Knights will look to keep their recent success rolling as they open a three-match homestand, hosting South Carolina, Temple and FAU. UCF has won three in a row and have gone unbeaten in five consecutive matches. The Black and Gold defeated then No. 6 North Carolina to start both streaks. UCF then returned to Orlando for their home opener and tied with Penn State. The Knights finished the homestand 2-0-1 and then went on the road and soared over the FGCU Eagles 4-1 in their last match.
Another interesting streak is on the line come Sunday. UCF has scored in the first 15 minutes of the last four matches. Cal Jennings started the streak by scoring in the 15th minute against Penn State, in the 4th minute against UTRGV and in the 15th minute while facing VCU. Gino Vivi continued the streak on the road, scoring in the 4th minute against FGCU. One final trend to note and to watch for on Sunday is that Jennings has scored in UCF's last five matches. He has totaled seven goals on the season through six matches which propelled him into a tie for first in goals scored in the NCAA after Wednesday's match.
The Gamecocks will come to Orlando with a record of 4-2-0 overall and an 0-1-0 record in Conference-USA. They opened their season with a 4-1 loss at Clemson before returning home for a three match homestand of their own. All three of their games came down to the wire as South Carolina beat Gardner-Webb, USC Upstate and Mercer all in overtime.
South Carolina's lone conference loss came at the hands of Marshall in West Virginia, meaning that the Gamecocks are 0-2 on the road coming into their matchup with the Black and Gold. South Carolina is 4-0 at home, with their last win giving them 500 wins in program history.
Tucker Monheimer has scored half of South Carolina's goals this season, netting four goals so far and has fired eight shots on goal. Brian Banahan, Logan Frost and Luca Mayr are the other goal scorers for the Gamecocks. Buenyamin Yusufoglu will likely tend the net for South Carolina and has a GAA of 1.14 to this point in the season. He has made 36 saves and allowed seven goals and has started in all six games for the Gamecocks.
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