ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 18 UCF men's soccer team is set for their Round of 16 action as they face No. 2 nationally seeded and third-ranked Pitt on Thursday at 3 p.m. The neutral site match will be played on Field Four at WakeMed Soccer Park, which the location of all Sweet 16 matchups for the men's and women's College Cup.
The Knights advanced to their second straight Sweet 16 with a 2-1 victory over No. 17 James Madison on Sunday. UCF opened the scoring at the 3:47 mark as Lucca Dourado and Gino Vivi connected on a slow cross along the grass that Vivi was able to chip up and over the goalkeeper. After surrendering a goal just five minutes into halftime, Dourado answered with a goal of his five minutes later with assists from Mauricio Villalobos Vega and Vivi.
Dourado and Vivi have been brilliant for the Black and Gold down the stretch of the regular season and into the postseason. They've scored eight of the team's last nine goals, dating back to their come from behind victory at home against SMU on April 2. Vivi has tallied five goals this season, matching his total from 2019 while the rookie Dourado sits one score behind him at four. Vivi and Dourado both earned a goal and an assist in Sunday's win over James Madison.
The Knights will face Pitt for the right to advance to the Elite Eight. Thursday's match is the Panther's first Sweet 16 appearance, meaning the winner will move onto their first Elite Eight in program history. A victory for the Black and Gold would make them the first UCF team across all sports to reach the Elite Eight since women's soccer did it back in 2011.
Pitt enters the match coming off a 6-1 victory over Monmouth in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and boasting a 14-3-0 record this season. The Panthers, along with the rest of the ACC, played most of their season in the fall with a few matches taking place in the spring. They had a perfect 7-0 start in the fall before getting beat by Clemson in the ACC championship match, which took place in November. Pitt fell to Clemson again in the ACC automatic qualifier match that was played in mid-April.
Valentin Noel leads the team in goals, scoring 12 while earning a total of 26 points, also first on his squad. Just behind him his Veljko Petkovic who has scored half a dozen goals and collected eight assists, good enough for 20 points. Nico Campuzano is the man between the posts for Pitt as he has started at goalkeeper in all 17 matches. He's recorded four clean sheets, has a .699 save percentage and allows an average of 1.26 goals per match.
Yannik Oettl continues to be outstanding, as well as the entire backline of UCF's defense. Together, they've allowed just four goals over the team's nine-match unbeaten streak.Oettl remains at No. 3 in the country in save percentage at .897 and fifth in the country in total saves with 52.
The first phase of the game continues to set a trend for the end result of each match. UCF hasn't lost when holding their opponent scoreless in the first fifteen minutes of the game, going 8-0-1. The Black and Gold are a perfect 6-0 when scoring two goals or more.
This season's NCAA Tournament appearance is the third straight for the Knights and eight overall. It's the first time that UCF has been in three consecutive NCAA Tournaments since 2002-04. It is also the third straight campaign that the Black and Gold have earned a second round bye in the big dance.
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