In a stunning season opener, UCF men’s soccer put up five goals against FAU, bringing the team to 3-0 in the last three matches.
Both teams faced a tough 2014 season and look to yield a successful 2015 campaign to overshadow the blemish. The Knights are on a path to realize this goal with two exhibition victories and a single regular season victory after the 5-0 performance Friday night.
Head coach Bryan Cunningham emphasized to the players to build on opportunities throughout the game by making plays early on.
“We dominated in possession, we dominated in chances, to only allow them to have two shots on goal is great, to get a shutout is great and I just thought we really executed,” Cunningham said.
Friday night saw UCF’s Neico Regent achieve just that only 11 minutes into the game when the defender struck a loose ball into the net following a free kick made by his fellow Knight.
A strong first half carried into the second, where the Knights tallied four goals, two of which were made by midfielder Matias Pyysalo in eight minutes.
In the 54th minute, the Finland native caught a ball mistakenly headed by an FAU defender and quickly outpaced the Owls defense for an easy goal in. Pyysalo returned at the 62nd to collect a pass from Gorka Aperribay as they ran down the field, misleading FAU to send one to the back of the net.
Forward Hadji Barry maneuvered through two defenders for an open lane, scoring after Owls’ goalkeeper Phillip Hitpass got a touch but couldn’t prevent the ball from bouncing in.
A 4-0 lead didn’t stop the Knights from creating another scoring run, as Pyysalo assisted Aperribay in a close fifth goal that was out of reach for Hitpass. UCF has gone 10-1 in terms of goals over the past three matches, a sign the team is ready to put the previous season behind them as their campaign progresses.
“At the end of the day, we have goals for this group – major goals for this group,” Cunningham continued. “We didn’t take our foot off the throttle and that’s how I want this team to play.”
