ORLANDO – Coming off the squad’s largest win by scoring margin in almost two years, the No. 2 UCF men’s soccer team is set to return to the road this weekend for a Sunday evening matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
UCF (8-1-2, 4-1-1 SBC) entered its midweek matchup against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Wednesday an owner of the No. 2 national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches poll for the third consecutive week. The ranking represented a slot within the national top five from the organization for the sixth straight week in Tuesday’s release, and the team was also pegged as the No. 2 national seed in Friday evening’s NCAA midseason top 16 committee rankings.
The Knights most recently produced a five-goal outburst against the visiting Chants Wednesday evening, marking a single-match season high and the team’s first five-goal game since Nov. 10, 2021, when UCF topped then-No. 3 Memphis by a 6-0 final score in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Five different Knights combined to score each of UCF’s five goals Wednesday after veteran forward Lucca Dourado accounted for each of the Knights’ four goals spanning the team’s previous two matches against Georgia Southern and Old Dominion.
Clarence Awoudor ignited the offensive onslaught with his second goal of the season in the 30th minute before Raphael Crivello, Emmanuel Bam, Saku Heiskanen and Yanis Belatrache all found the back of the net in a four-goal second half.
The contest featured the first four-plus goal second half by a Knights squad since a 4-2 UCF win at Stetson Sept. 15, 2018, and the first match with four goals in either half since the aforementioned 6-0 tournament win over Memphis. UCF saw five different Knights tally at least one goal for the first time since their six-goal victory against the Tigers, as well.
Starting goalkeeper Juanvi Muñoz made one save on his lone opportunity throughout the evening, facing a trio of shots before he was replaced in the waning minutes of the second half by redshirt-freshman Luciano Natoli.
In relief of Muñoz, Natoli made his collegiate debut and was credited with a combined shutout, marking the Knights’ fourth clean sheet of the season and third in their last four matches. Following the winning effort, the Knights have yielded just one goal in their last four contests combined, and one or fewer goals in nine of their first 11 matches thus far.
UCF’s strong defensive run has placed the squad near the top of a handful of statistical categories in the conference, the most notable of which being its Sun Belt-leading .795 save percentage.
The Knights also rank among conference leaders in team goals-against average (.818, 2nd Sun Belt, 23rd NCAA) and goal differential (+14, 3rd Sun Belt, 20th NCAA), and on the offensive end own the third-highest scoring offense in the Sun Belt with 2.09 goals per game.
With the addition of Belatrache and Crivello to the scoresheet, the Knights now boast 10 different goal-scorers who have combined for their 23 total goals, a mark that is good for a top 50 spot in the nation at No. 46.
In South Carolina, UCF will meet a squad off to a 4-6-3 start, including a 2-2-2 mark within Sun Belt play. The Gamecocks own conference wins over then-No. 24 Kentucky, by 1-0 final score Sept. 15, and Old Dominion, also a 1-0 decision Oct. 7.
The team is led in scoring by senior forward Adam Luckhurst, a transfer in his third year at South Carolina with five goals and a team-leading 10 points through 13 matches. Luckhurst was held off the scoresheet in his last match at Georgia Southern Oct. 18, but scored one of his team’s two goals against then-No. 7 West Virginia Oct. 12.
Between the goalposts, sophomore netminder Ben Alexander has handled 12 of the Gamecocks’ first 13 games, producing 47 total saves and a 3.92 saves per game mark ranks tied for second-best in the conference.
Kickoff for the match is slated for 6 p.m. from Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina Oct. 22.
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