| SMU vs. RV UCF Sunday, October 31, 6 p.m. ET WATCH (ESPN+) | LIVE STATS | TICKETS |
ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF men's soccer team is set to host its final home match of the regular season and is set to square off with SMU at 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The Knights are coming off a heartbreaking loss to South Florida, dropping a 4-3 result in overtime at home on Wednesday night. After trailing 3-1, the Black and Gold scored twice in the final 20 minutes, netting the equalizer in the 85th minute. The Bulls found the golden goal in the 95th minute and creating a season split of the War On I-4 for the second season in a row.
Despite the loss, the Knights scored three or more goals for the eighth time this season and for the seventh time in their last nine matches. The Black and Gold average 2.69 goals per match, good enough for a tie of third nationally. UCF continuously peppers the opposition with shots as well, ranking 10th in shots on goal per game with an average of 7.31 and rank 17th in shot attempts per match, firing 15.62 per contest.
The Knights narrowly trail in what has been a tightly contested all-time series between them and the Mustangs, who hold a 8-9-7 edge. UCF has had SMU's number through the last four meetings, going 3-0-1 in that span. The one tie was in the American Athletic Conference semifinals, where UCF triumphed over SMU in penalty kicks and eventually went on to win the AAC tournament, putting an end to the Mustangs' hope of a four-peat as tournament champs.
The Knights earned their first comeback victory of the season in their first tilt with SMU earlier this month. The Black and Gold trailed 1-0 at half before scoring a pair in the final frame, earning a 2-1 victory over the then-No. 24 ranked Mustangs.
SMU enters the match with an overall record of 7-3-3, going 4-3-1. They earned a point their last time out against No. 8 Tulsa, playing to a 0-0 draw. The Mustangs average exactly two goals a match, scoring 26 times in 13 contests. Gabriel Costa leads the Mustangs in almost every offensive category leading the team in goals with seven, shots and shots on goal. He's tied with Knut Ahlander in assists, each with six this season. Cole Johnson has been the lone goalkeeper for SMU, allowing 12 goals in 13 matches, good enough for a 0.86 goals allowed average and a .750 save percentage. He's earned five shutouts so far, turning aside 36 shots.
Gideon Adu-Peprah, Alessandro Campoy, Matt Douglass, Rainer De Jesus, Brandon Golding, Andres Hernandez Betancur, Yanis Leerman, Franco Loello, Nick Taylor and Mauricio Villalobos Vega will all be honored on the field before the match as part of Senior Knight.
The Knights still control their own destiny in The American table. If they win both matches, they'll hoist a fourth straight regular season conference title and host the conference tournament again.
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