The UCF Knights opened their first home game of the season with a dominant performance against the USF Bulls on Friday, Sept. 19. UCF rallied in the third period with five straight goals in route to a 9-4 victory. The game was packed with plenty of action and was a hard-fought, physical match between the I-4 rivals.
Senior Will Roos led the Knights on the score sheet with two goals and two assists. Senior Matt Pierson and freshman Brandon Palacio each had two goals and an assist for the Knights.
Pierson opened up the scoring for UCF at 12:25 in the first period. Roos chipped the puck into the middle of the ice and Pierson corralled it to his forehand and slipped a wrist shot past the glove of the USF goaltender.
“I just wanted to get something on net because it was early enough in the game where I didn’t know if the goalie was warm,” Pierson said.
Just 1:35 later Palacio made it 2-0 with a one-time pass from Harrison Foreman. Jacob Solomon got credit for the secondary assist as he made a stunning pass to Foreman while falling to his back.
“I kind of got tied up and started to fall. I still had the puck within my reach,” Solomon said.
USF closed the first period with three unanswered goals to make it 2-3. They scored one of those goals during a five-on-three power play.
At 14:11 in the second period, Brian Lerro tied the game at three apiece with an unassisted highlight-reel goal. He skated down the right side of USF’s zone, beat a defenseman, gave the goaltender a shoulder and head fake, went forehand to backhand with the puck, and slid it into the crease. USF’s goalie made a spectacular save with his stick but ultimately put the puck into the net with his momentum.
“[I was] just trying to skate hard … anything to get around the goalie,” Lerro said. “Thankfully, he kind of helped me push that puck into the net.”
Senior Ryan Nelson put the Knights up 4-3 midway through the second period. He picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and blazed a shot low to the glove side.
A few minutes later USF tied the game at four with another power play goal.
After two periods, the game was deadlocked at four goals and 27 shots for each side.
“Coach lit a good fire under us [before the third period]. He let us know it’s time to make it or break it,” Pierson said. “He said, basically, ‘show what you guys are made of.’”
Pierson’s fire was lit.
He put UCF up 5-4 at 13:44 in the third period with a tap in goal. John Fromme made a clean breakout pass to Roos out of the zone. Roos passed it cross-ice in the neutral zone to Pierson who then skated past a defender and trickled one through the crease and underneath the goalie. The puck came out on the other side and Pierson tapped it in.
“We needed that one to get the wheels going and it was just [opening the] floodgates after that,” Fromme said.
Midway through the third period USF picked up two penalties less than a minute apart to put UCF on a five-on-three power play. That proved to be the Bulls’ collapse.
Off the ensuing faceoff from the latter power play, Roos batted down a puck out of mid-air at the blue-line to keep it in the zone during the two-man advantage. He made a D-to-D pass, scorched a slap shot through everyone, and found the back of the net. The goal made it 6-4. The floodgates were officially open.
One minute later Palacio made it 7-4 when he picked up his second goal of the night. He blazed a slap shot from the left hash mark that beat the USF goalie underneath the cross bar on the glove side. The net-minder looked as though he didn’t know what had just happened and was then replaced by the teams’ backup.
Foreman’s goal, which doubled UCF’s lead, proved to be the straw that broke the Bulls’ back. The goal went in and out as quick as a lightning strike. A USF player didn’t take too kindly to it and dished out a couple of cheap punches to Foreman’s head.
After the smoke had cleared and the fans had settled down, five penalties had been called and Palacio had received a one game suspension.
With 2:33 left in the game, Roos iced the cake a little taller, and strengthened the rivalry, as he made it 9-4.
The Knights put up five goals in the third period and proved to be too much for the Bulls to lasso. They defeated USF 6-3 in an away game on Sept. 18 in their first game of the year. They are 2-0 on the season.
UCF will play another home-and-home series next week, but will face the University of Tampa this time. They’re back in action at RDV on Friday, Sept. 26 at 10:15 p.m.
