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KnightCap: UCF Men’s Soccer Clinches Outright Regular Season Title

Women’s Soccer advances to rematch with South Florida in American Championship

Photo: Derek Warden

November is here, and that means it’s postseason time for Soccer. There’s plenty of drama to be had for both UCF Knights soccer programs in this week’s KnightCap.


Men’s Soccer clinches outright regular season championship with another golden goal

Gino Vivi scored his third golden goal of the season on a spectacular spin-o-rama to give the UCF Knights a 3-2 overtime win at Cincinnati in their regular season finale, clinching the outright regular season title in the process.

UCF has played eight overtime games this year, including six of the last eight fixtures, going 6-0-2 in extra time.

The Knights finish the regular season with only one loss - their fewest losses in a season since 1976, when they were a Division II Independent.

UCF will host the conference tournament, and the Knights also have a bye to the semifinals as the top seed. They will next play on Wednesday, November 13th against the winner of the 4/5 match-up between Memphis and Temple, scheduled for Saturday, November 9th. The Knights beat Memphis 1-0 on November 1, and beat Temple 2-0 back on September 27th, with both of those matches at UCF.

Record: 13-1-2, 6-0-1 in The American (1st place)

Ranking: #6 in United Soccer Coaches, #4 in Top Drawer Soccer

RPI: #3 (up one spot)

Next: American Tournament Semifinal vs. winner of Temple at Memphis - Wednesday November 13th at UCF Track & Soccer Complex (American Digital Network)


Women’s Soccer advances in American First Round, faces South Florida in semis

The Women’s Soccer team began their uphill climb in The American Tournament with a dominant 5-0 home victory over Houston in the first round on Sunday.

The 3-seed Knights got a pair of goals from Dayana Martin, plus additional tallies from Ellie Moreno, Darya Rajaee and Jessica Taylor. Coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak spoke post-game about Moreno’s opening salvo:

UCF now heads to Memphis for the remainder of the conference tournament. They face the 2-seed South Florida Bulls (12-4, #2 seed) in the semifinals. The winner faces the winner of SMU (12-6-1, #5 seed) vs. Memphis (16-1-1, #1 seed) in the championship on November 10th. UCF beat South Florida 1-0 in their regular season finale in Orlando on Halloween night.

In all likelihood, UCF will have to win the tournament outright in order to secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Record: 11-3-4, 5-2-2 in The American (4th place)

Ranking: Receiving Votes in United Soccer Coaches Poll (three spots out of top 25)

RPI: 90th (up 18 spots)

Next: American Tournament Semifinal vs. South Florida - Thursday, November 7th at 5:30 p.m. ET


Volleyball heads into Senior Week winners of nine straight

UCF Knights Volleyball swept another weekend, this time a home-road split against South Florida and at SMU.

On Friday, UCF dominated the Bulls in three, thanks to 15 kills from McKenna Melville and this spectacular save and block by Nerissa Moravec that got national attention:

Then on Sunday, UCF took care of SMU in four, in back of a 20-kill, 12-dig performcance from Melville and 50 combined assists from the Olson Sisters. The victory pushed UCF’s winning streak to nine in a row, with their last loss coming on October 4th at Cincinnati.

UCF now heads into the final home weekend of the regular season against ECU on Friday and the aforementioned Bearcats on Sunday with massive division and RPI implications.

Also of note: Jordan Thompson, Cincinnati’s phenomenal outside hitter, is coming off a mind-blowing 50-kill effort on her Senior Night against UConn that earned her AVCA National Player of the Week Honors.

Sunday should be one for the ages at The Venue.

Record: 18-6, 11-1 in The American (T-1st place, East Division)

Ranking: Not ranked

RPI: #28 (down one spot)

Matches Left: 4

  • November 8 vs. ECU (3rd AAC East, RPI #138)
  • November 10 vs. Cincinnati (T-1st* AAC East, RPI #31)
  • November 14 at Temple (5th AAC East, RPI #108)
  • November 16 at UConn (4th AAC East, RPI #232)

* Cincinnati currently owns tiebreaker with UCF in East