HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The No. 3 seed UCF men’s soccer team battled the elements throughout a hard-fought quarterfinal round, but the squad fell in its 2024 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Championship opener to the sixth-seeded James Madison Dukes, 2-1, at Marshall University’s Hoops Family Field Sunday night.
In the face of heavy rainfall that lasted most of the match, the Knights (7-6-3, 5-4-0 Sun Belt) controlled the pace of the contest for most of the evening, outshooting the Dukes (8-4-6, 3-3-3 Sun Belt) 17-9, including a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal.
The Black and Gold held James Madison without a shot attempt in the first half before the Dukes responded with a pair of second-half goals to take a 2-0 advantage with 17 minutes to play.
UCF came back with a goal of its own, courtesy of senior Javier López Sánchez in the 79th minute. The midfielder, in the midst of a cluster just in front of the James Madison goal, saw a rebound from a Yanis Belatrache crossing attempt intended for Joey Mueller drop right near his feet.
Sánchez quickly sent a shot attempt of his own on target, watching the ball ricochet off a Dukes defender and into the net.
The goal represented the first score of his collegiate career, joining Sora Funakoshi, Alex Smith, Drew Hansen, Carlos Rojas, Mouhamed Pouye, Jonas Fritschi and Joey Mueller as the eighth different player to score his first goal either as a Knight or in his collegiate career this fall.
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