In a double header late Friday night, September 5, the men’s soccer team regrouped after two games on the road, claiming their first home victory against FAU (0-3) by scoring off a penalty kick, just short of 90 minutes into the game.
Although slow to start, having faced a three hour lightning delay, UCF (1-2) avoided overtime by making the most of the penalty made on junior forward Romario Willliams, leaving the Knights in a pivotal situation.
“With nine seconds on the clock it is a pretty tough situation knowing that, ‘hey, if you miss this one the game is going into overtime,’” Williams said. “I have been in situations like that on numerous occasions, so I just wanted to hold my composure and that’s what I did and I was able to convert and lead my team to victory.”
UCF earned the penalty after the Owl’s goalkeeper, Theo Jamilloux, took away a scoring opportunity from Williams, replacing nine seconds on the clock, just enough for the forward to make the goal.
Midfielder Javier Clavijo had no doubt in his mind that Williams would make the kick with only seconds on the clock.
“Romario knew what had to be done given the weight that the PK really was carrying, I knew he was definitely more than capable of stepping up and completing something of that magnitude,” said Clavijo.
Both the Knights and Owls had a slow first half but it was the Knights who put the pressure on after halftime, dishing out ten shots toward Jamilloux.
“For us to score like we did late I think it is going to be massive for our players, we preach them to play for ninety minutes and to stick things out and it wasn’t easy out there, I was just really proud of our effort until the very end and to get the goal and steal the game at the end is massive moving forward,” said head coach Bryan Cunningham in a post-game interview.
The Knights will not see another game until Friday, September 12, which will be played on the road against Akron at 7:00pm ET.
