ORLANDO, Fla. – Highlighted by eight home matches, the UCF men's soccer team has announced its 2021 regular season schedule. The 15-match slate is highlighted by five out-of-conference contests, including two against ACC teams and a double round robin against conference foes.
The Knights began their 2021 preseason with a 7-2 victory over Stetson on Aug. 14 at home. They'll have one more exhibition before starting their regular season campaign as they're scheduled to visit FAU on Aug. 20 at 6 p.m.
UCF opens up its regular season slate against a pair of in-state opponents, hosting FIU on Aug. 26 and UNF Aug. 29, both with a 6 p.m. first kick. The Black and Gold are 5-3-1 in their last nine matches against FIU, with their most recent regular season meeting coming back in 2018. The Knights are 7-5 all-time against the Ospreys and look to end a four-match skid against them.
The Black and Gold will return to Raleigh, N.C., where they played in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, to face a pair of ACC opponents. UCF will face Virginia Tech on Sep. 3 in a neutral site match at the home of NC State. Virginia Tech also reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 last season, beating Oregon State in the second round before falling in an eight-round shootout to Seton Hall. Three days later, the Knights will face NC State on their home turf, marking the first time the programs have gone head-to-head since their only other meeting in 1979. The Knights have only met the Hokies five times in the program's history and are 1-0-2 over the last three contests. UCF dropped its only previous tilt with the Wolfpack.
The Knights wrap up their non-conference schedule with another Florida-foe as they host FGCU on Sep. 11 at 1 p.m. The match will be played prior to UCF football's contest with Bethune-Cookman. The Black and Gold's last meeting with the Eagles was in 2019 when the Knights went to Fort Myers and came away with a 4-1 victory. UCF is 3-3-2 against FGCU and have won the last pair of meetings.
Conference play resumes in the third week of September and will be the same format of last season. The American will use a double-round robin schedule for all conference teams, meaning the Knights will play each conference opponent at home and on the road. All of UCF's home conference matches will have a 6 p.m. start time.
UCF opens up American Athletic Conference play on the road at Memphis, facing the Tigers on Sep. 18 at 9 p.m. The Black and Gold are 13-7-4 against Memphis and haven't lost to them since head coach Scott Calabrese's arrival, going 4-0-1 since 2017. The Tigers finished the 2020-21 season with a record of 2-8 and finished at the bottom of The American table.
The Knights open their home conference slate against Temple on Sept. 24, a team they've dominated in recent memory. UCF is 6-2-2 against the Owls and have come out of its last four matchups victorious, outscoring Temple 12-0.
The War On I-4 resumes on Sep. 29 in Tampa at 7 p.m. as UCF will square off with their rival for the 40th time. The Black and Gold split their two decisions with the Bulls in 2020-21 and have won three of the last four tilts. South Florida had a year of runs last season, dropping their first two matches before ripping off four consecutive victories. That was the best their record looked for the rest of the season as the Bulls dropped their remaining four contests to finish 4-6 and miss The American tournament.
UCF will return to Orlando and face Memphis on Oct. 3 in the return match of their home-and-home. The two-match homestand wraps up on Oct. 10 in a soccer double-header with Tulsa. The women's soccer team will host the Golden Hurricane at 1 p.m. before the men play at 6 p.m. The Knights squared off against Tulsa three times last season, dropping both regular season contests but beating them in The American title match as the Black and Gold hoisted the tournament trophy for the first time.
A two-match road trip follows the quick homestand as the Knights will head to Dallas to visit SMU on Oct. 16. UCF had the upper hand in last year's contests, beating the Mustangs twice during the regular season and knocking off the back-to-back-to-back tournament champions in PKs of the semifinals of The American tournament. The road trip ends with a meeting against Temple in Philadelphia on Oct. 22.
The Knights will have another two-match homestand to round out their regular season home slate. They host part II of the War On I-4 on Oct. 27 before hosting SMU on Halloween. The schedule comes to a close in Tulsa on Nov. 5.
The American Athletic Conference Championship will use the same format as last season. The top four teams in the table at the end of the campaign will report to the No. 1 seed to play the tournament there. The semifinals take place on Nov. 10 with the championship match falling on Nov. 13.
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