#6 Tulsa vs. UCF Sunday, October 10, 6 p.m. ET |
ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF men's soccer team is set to return to action as it hosts No. 6 Tulsa on Sunday at 6 p.m.
The Knights will face their second top 10 opponent of the season when the square off with the Golden Hurricane this weekend. Their previous top 10 meeting was with then No. 10 Virginia Tech. The Black and Gold had the lead at halftime but surrendered two second half goals in a span of 18 seconds as they fell 2-1 to the Hokies.
UCF saw its four-match winning streak snapped in their last match against Memphis, falling to the Tigers 3-0 last Sunday. Prior to that contest, the Knights were tied for the national lead in goals scored, averaging three a match. The Black and Gold had scored three or more goals in each of their four matches leading up to their tilt with Memphis and look to return to scoring in bunches on Sunday.
The Knights have had success against Tulsa in recent memory, beating them in four of their last six meetings. UCF had won three straight contests against the Golden Hurricane from 2017-19 before dropping both regular season contests to them in the 2020-21 season. The losses were avenged at the best time possible as the Knights beat Tulsa 1-0 in the American Athletic Conference tournament title match, earning the team's first conference tournament crown.
Both the Knights and the Golden Hurricane enter the match in a tie for eighth in the country in goals scored per match, averaging 2.67 a game.
Tulsa enters the match with a perfect 9-0-0 record this season with four of those victories being over American foes. The Golden Hurricane beat three top 25 teams before entering conference play, taking down No. 8 Missouri State, No. 9 Marquette and No. 24 Michigan State. Tulsa added another top 15 team with their 2-1 double overtime victory over No. 12 SMU on Sep. 29 as they scored with under 10 seconds to go in the final overtime to grab the victory.
Alex Meinhard is the team's leading scorer with seven goals and 16 points. Just behind him is Malik Henry-Scott who has six goals and 14 points this season. Alex Lopez has played in eight of Tulsa's nine matches thus far, only allowing five goals and earning three solo shutouts and one combined clean sheet. He owns a .821 save percentage and a 0.62 goals allowed average.
The Golden Hurricane isn't the only undefeated team that UCF has faced in recent memory. The last time the Knights faced a 9-0-0 team was in 2019 on the road at No. 4 SMU. The match saw no scoring in the first half but then saw each side score three times in the final 45 minutes. Double overtime couldn't find a winner, so the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
A victory against Tulsa would crack the goose egg in their loss column, as well as put UCF, and potentially SMU, in a tie for the top seed in The American. Sunday's match is the halfway point in the conference slate for all six of The American's teams.
Sunday's UCF men's soccer match will be the second leg of a soccer double header. The UCF women's soccer team hosts Tulsa at 1 p.m. before the men take the pitch at 6 p.m.
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