ORLANDO – Riding a three-game win streak and its third road win in four tries this season, the No. 2 UCF men’s soccer team is prepping for a quick turnaround for its next match, a home tilt against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Wednesday evening.
The Knights (7-1-2, 3-1-1 SBC), taking the pitch as the second-ranked team in the nation for the second straight week Saturday, most recently authored a narrow 2-1 road victory at the Old Dominion Monarchs, led by senior forward Lucca Dourado’s second straight two-goal game. The veteran put UCF ahead early in the match, converting his second penalty kick attempt of the season in the 12th minute after Raphael Crivello drew a Monarchs penalty within the box.
Dourado later gave UCF its second lead of the evening in the 82nd minute, breaking a 1-1 score after Old Dominion managed an equalizer just 12 minutes prior. The contest pushed Dourado’s goal total to eight through 10 matches, and the São Paulo, Brazil, native has now registered eight multi-goal matches in his career after he was also responsible for both Knights goals in the team’s 2-0 victory over Georgia Southern Oct. 7.
Dourado’s eight total goals rank second-most of any individual player in the Sun Belt, trailing West Virginia’s Marcus Caldeira’s nine, and the forward’s total slots in at 24th in the country. His 0.80 goals per game, meanwhile, is good for tops in the conference and 13th in Division I men’s soccer.
The forward’s most recent standout offensive performance boosted him past Mark Lamb (1984-87) and into sole possession of eighth place on the UCF all-time points list with 75, and with 36 career goals, Dourado now needs just three more to tie Rony Francois (39, 1980-83) for fifth place on the all-time goals scored list.
UCF on the other end produced another stingy defensive effort as well, allowing one or fewer goals for the fourth consecutive match and the eighth time in its first 10 games. The team now boasts a goals-against average of .900, a mark that ranks second-lowest in the Sun Belt, behind only No. 1 Marshall, and 30th in the nation.
Though the Monarchs’ score in the 70th minute erased UCF’s hopes for a third straight shutout win, the Knights held their opposition scoreless for an aggregate 314 minutes and 45 seconds between Old Dominion’s lone goal and UCF’s 1-0 loss at Marshall Sept. 23.
Sophomore Juanvi Muñoz continues to solidify himself among the more consistent and reliable goalkeepers in the nation as well, as the Valencia, Spain, native ranks within the top 40 in the country in save percentage (.791, 25th) and goals-against average (.900, 36th).
UCF on Wednesday will square off against a Chanticleers squad it has met just four times in program history, with the last matchup having taken place Sept. 6, 1998, an 8-1 Knights win at home. Coastal Carolina is off to a 3-5-3 start this fall, including a 1-2-2 mark in Sun Belt play. The team will be searching for its first winning result since its 3-2 victory over then-No. 12 James Madison Sept. 23, having gone 0-2-1 in three matches since, including a 6-1 loss to No. 1 Marshall in its most recent contest Oct. 13.
The Chants are led offensively by Deryn Armstrong, a senior forward who has amassed eight points on three goals and two assists in 11 matches thus far. Armstrong represents one of two multi-goal scorers for Coastal Carolina to this point, joined by sophomore forward Evan Howard, who has notched a pair of goals for four points.
The Chants, like the Knights, have also placed their faith in a sophomore between the goalposts for the majority of the fall slate, as Kilian Vallant has started 10 of Coastal Carolina’s 11 contests in goal. The Salzburg, Austria, native leads the Sun Belt in saves per game with 4.60, a mark that also ranks 18th in the country, and his 46 total saves are tied for second-most in the conference with Old Dominion’s Michael Statham.
Vallant has authored a pair of shutouts thus far, against USC Upstate Sept. 1 and Georgia Southern Sept. 15, and has allowed one or fewer goals in five of his first 10 matches as well.
In honor of the team’s second and final Space Game this season, UCF will also don its Canaveral blue Citronaut kits in its penultimate home match of the regular season. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the UCF Soccer Complex.
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