ORLANDO – The UCF men's soccer team fell 2-1 to South Florida on Wednesday night, ending its 2022 campaign and final season in the American Athletic Conference.
"Really difficult right now to put into words how we feel," said head coach Scott Calabrese. "We're so disappointed that we don't get to continue and we feel like our team has so much potential and at times were so good. It's really tough to accept that we don't get to work with this team ever again and that we don't have an opportunity to continue our season."
Neither team was able to find control in the first 45 minutes. After a few spells of pressure in the final third, were unable to find the back of the net. Josiah Ramirez made his first start of the season and had the best chance from both sides, as his shot in the sixth minute was saved by the Bulls goalkeeper on a diving attempt. It was the lone shot on goal of the half as the match reached halftime in a scoreless draw. UCF was outshooting South Florida 5-0 at one point and finished the first 45 with a 5-2 edge.
The second half got off to a flying start as each team found early chances. Lucca Dourado's 54th-minute shot was inches away from finding the far post and putting UCF in the lead fresh out of the break.
Following a Juanvi Muñoz save, a South Florida corner in the 60th minute led to two chances in the box as the second was put away by Julio Plata, giving the Bulls the one-goal advantage. Ten minutes later, South Florida doubled their advantage on a Gabrielle Privitera shot from just inside the box.
The Knights pushed for a way back into the game, as four yellow cards were shown in just ten minutes as the game got chippy. With five minutes to go, Kevin Andrews was taken down in the box, giving UCF a shot from the penalty spot. Lucas Mauro stepped up and slotted to the right of the keeper, cutting the deficit down to one.
A chance by Dourado with minutes to spare and three corner kicks made it close, ultimately though the Knights couldn't find the equalizer.
UCF will miss The American's postseason tournament for the first time as part of the league in its final year as a member of the conference. The Knights had previously reached the conference tournament nine times in as many tries. Along the way, UCF won three regular season conference championships and won their lone tournament championship in the league during the 2020-21 season.
The men's soccer program moves from The American to the Sun Belt ahead of next season as the rest of the athletic programs at UCF make the transition to the Big 12, a sport that doesn't have a men's soccer conference. Currently the Sun Belt's postseason tournament hosts eight teams. Kentucky leads the way in first place and is ranked as the third best team in the country according to the United Soccer Coaches Poll. Marshall holds the second position, a team that won the 2020-21 National Championship. Currently, four of the nine teams in the Sun Belt are in the top 50 of the NCAA's RPI while all but one of the nine teams are in the top 90.
The Black and Gold finish the season with a 6-7-0 record, the first season below .500 since 2016 when they went 5-11-0. That was also the last time the Knights had sub-.500 record in conference play, going 3-4 in The American but still making the postseason tournament as the No. 4 seed.
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