ORLANDO – The UCF men’s soccer team is set to return home following its midweek trip to Morgantown, West Virginia, as the squad will welcome the No. 18 South Carolina Gamecocks to the UCF Soccer Complex Sunday evening.
The contest will represent the team’s second straight against a ranked opponent and third of the year against a top 25 foe, as well as the program’s penultimate regular-season home match as the 2026 slate nears the conclusion of its final full month of action.
UCF on Sunday will look to continue its run of dominance on its home pitch, bringing a 5-1-1 record at the UCF Soccer Complex this fall into the matchup including wins over Marshall, Old Dominion, Boston U., South Florida and Florida Polytechnic.
The Black and Gold have also enjoyed great success in their Sun Belt era against the Gamecocks, having earned winning results in three of the teams’ four meetings since the Knights joined the league in 2023, highlighted by two consecutive shutout wins.
In the squads’ matchup a year ago, the Knights made the trip to Columbia and brought home a 2-0 triumph that kickstarted the team’s second-half turnaround that culminated in the 2025 Sun Belt Conference tournament championship and a second-round NCAA Tournament berth.
Prior to the contest against the Gamecocks last year, UCF had produced a 2-5-1 mark through its first eight matches, and the clean sheet victory ignited a 9-2-2 stretch the rest of the way that saw the Black and Gold make its NCAA Tournament run and finish as one of the hottest teams in college soccer.
The Knights’ clean sheet against the Gamecocks a year ago also marked UCF’s second straight shutout against South Carolina, after the squad toppled the Gamecocks by a 4-0 final score in Orlando Nov. 1, 2024, on the strength of a Lucca Dourado hat trick and a pair of Juanvi Muñoz saves.
UCF this season is led offensively thus far by redshirt junior Drew Hansen and defender Takahiro Fujita, as the pair of combined to account for 12 of the team’s first 24 goals this fall.
With seven goals, including three in his last three games, Hansen, the reigning Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week, enters his team’s Sunday tilt with a share of the fourth most tallies in the league, and he also ranks among Sun Belt Conference leaders in goals per game (0.54, T-4th), total points (15, 5th) and points per game (1.15, 6th).
Junior goalkeeper Matisse Hébert kept his team in the match at West Virginia as well, making five saves on the Mountaineers’ eight shots on target to record his third contest of the year with at least five saves.
The netminder with his next shutout would set a new single season career best with seven, and he already co-leads the Sun Belt in the category entering Sunday’s action.
Hébert is also well on his way to recording one of the strongest seasons by a goalkeeper in program history, jumping into a five-way tie for eighth place on the program's single-season clean sheets list, and needs just two more to tie Shawn Doyle (2010), Ryan McIntosh (2003) and Winston DuBose (1975) for the most in a single season in program history with eight.
The 18th-ranked Gamecocks, meanwhile, will present UCF with another tall test, as South Carolina enters the contest looking for its 11th win of the season coming off a prolific 7-0 rout of the Georgia Southern Eagles at home Wednesday evening.
Just one season after failing to qualify for the Sun Belt Conference tournament in 2025, the Gamecocks have authored an incredible turnaround, rising to earn the first No. 1 national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches’ top 25 poll in program history in this season’s week five poll.
The team this fall notably toppled then-No. 16 Clemson, 3-2, then-No. 25 Charlotte, 2-1, and then-No. 14 High Point, 2-0, in three consecutive matches from Aug. 28-Sept. 7. South Carolina then picked up its fourth ranked win of the year over then-No. 13 Old Dominion, 2-1, on the road Sept. 18, and played to a 1-1 draw with then-No. 16 West Virginia in Morgantown Oct. 3.
South Carolina is led offensively by junior midfielder Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez, who has notched a team-best 17 points with seven goals and a trio of assists. He leads a Gamecocks offense that boasts eight different players with at least two goals this season, giving South Carolina an average 2.36 goals per game that trails only Old Dominion’s 2.71 for the Sun Belt lead.
Opening kick is set for 5 p.m. from the UCF Soccer Complex and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
ABOUT UCF ATHLETICS
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.