ORLANDO – Riding the momentum of its second consecutive victory and fifth of the fall, the UCF men’s soccer team is set for its penultimate road match of the 2024 regular season against the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro, Georgia.
The Knights (5-4-3, 3-3-0 SBC) notched their second straight win, third in conference play and fifth of the fall by a 2-1 final score over the visiting Kentucky Wildcats Oct. 23, representing the first time this season the program has won consecutive games after the squad blanked the Old Dominion Monarchs, 2-0, Oct. 18.
Redshirt freshman Drew Hansen powered the Black and Gold’s latest win, scoring both UCF goals to record his first collegiate brace and game-winning goal, as well as helping push his team’s active win streak over Kentucky to four straight matches dating back to the 2011 season.
With Hansen’s brace, he joined freshman Carlos Rojas as the second Knight to record his first collegiate multi-goal game this season after Rojas did so with a pair of second-half scores against UC Irvine Sept. 6. The duo became the first for UCF to both record a brace in their respective first seasons playing for the Knights since at least 2011, as far back as NCAA data is available.
Hansen was assisted on his first goal by junior Clarence Awoudor and sophomore Mouhamed Pouye, and later by Awoudor and fifth year senior Anderson Rosa, who picked up his fifth helper of the year, marking a new single-season career best.
Awoudor’s two assists, meanwhile, gave the reigning Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year his first multi-assist match of the season and third of his career, joining UCF’s 3-2 win at Georgia State Oct. 27, 2023, and Oregon State’s 3-2 win over Portland Oct. 14, 2022.
The Saint-Lo, France, native also extended his team-leading point total to 12 with his fifth and sixth assists of the campaign, and he enters Sunday’s action leading the Sun Belt in assists per game (0.50, 29th NCAA) while sharing the top spot in the league in total assists (6) with Georgia Southern’s Harvey Sarajian and James Madison’s Evan Southern.
Pouye continued his upward offensive trend as well, recording the first assist of his collegiate career one match removed from scoring his first career goal against Old Dominion.
Junior netminder Juanvi Muñoz produced another strong showing on the other end in his third match since returning from a seven-game absence due to injury, making three saves on four shots on goal-against.
The match marked his second this season with three or more saves, and Muñoz saw his goals-against average, which entered the season at 1.29, good for 10th-lowest in program history, drop to 1.24 in his career and remain at an even 1.00 in 2024 entering play Sunday.
Against the Eagles (5-4-4, 1-3-2 SBC), the Knights will look to extend their win streak to three straight in the team’s first trip to Statesboro since 1997. UCF boasts an all-time 8-2-0 record against Georgia Southern, including an active four-match win streak in the series.
The Black and Gold, in their first matchup with the Eagles since 2013, came away with a 2-0 victory in the programs’ Oct. 7, 2023, matchup on the strength of the first of two consecutive Lucca Dourado braces. UCF held Georgia Southern without a single shot on goal in notching its second straight clean sheet and third of four a year ago.
The Eagles began their 2024 season unbeaten through seven matches, producing a 4-0-3 record from Aug. 22–Sept. 24 before suffering their first defeat in a road tilt at Jacksonville, 2-1, Oct. 1. The squad bounced back with a 5-0 road win over Coastal Carolina in its Sun Belt opener Oct. 4, representing its lone victory in conference play thus far.
Georgia Southern represents one of the better offensive teams in the Sun Belt this fall, leading the league in assists per game (2.08, 25th NCAA) and total assists (27, 29th NCAA) while ranking fourth in total goals (23, 55th NCAA) and total points (73, 46th NCAA).
Sophomore forward Ryan Holmes (1.62, 20th NCAA) trails only West Virginia’s Sergio Ors Navarro (1.93, 6th NCAA) in points per game and leads the conference in shots on goal per game (1.69, 16th NCAA). He represents one of two Sun Belt scorers this fall to eclipse 10 or more goals, as he ranks second in the conference and 10th in the nation with his 10 total scores.
Junior Nate Martinez has accounted for all 1170 minutes between the goalposts on the other end for the Eagles, having posted four shutouts, good for a share of third-most in the Sun Belt, on the strength of 38 saves and a 1.46 goals-against average.
Kickoff for the match is slated for 7 p.m. from Bo Pitts Field and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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