ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 10 UCF men's soccer team fell in their home opener against Tulsa by a score of 1-0 on Saturday evening.
"Tulsa was ready to compete and to work, they made that really clear right in the beginning of the game," said head coach Scott Calabrese. "We weren't ready for the start of this game, and when you're not ready to compete you open up a door for the other team."
After a scramble in front of the net in the ninth minute, the ball came back out to Mitchell Cashion of Tulsa. He lofted a curling ball into the box from roughly 20 yards out to the awaiting head of Alex Meinhard who scored the lone goal of the match at the 8:59 mark.
UCF picked up the pace after around the 30-minute mark. At the halfway point, the Knights were being outshot 5-2.
The Black and Gold came out strong in the second half but were unable to bury the equalizer. Both teams finished the match with nine shot attempts with Tulsa edging UCF in shots on target 3-2. The Knights were able to tally six corners in the second half and lead the match in that department 9-1, an area in which they led the nation in 2019.
Saturday night's result is the first time the Knights have lost a regular season home match since they fell to UC Irvine 1-0 in overtime back in late August of 2018.
UP NEXT
The Knights will head north to visit Temple next Saturday at 7 p.m. Temple won their season opener on the road against South Florida by a count of 3-2.
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