Jacksonville shut out in season-opener 5-0

The men's soccer team opened its 2010 season in dominating fashion Wednesday night with a 5-0 rout of Jacksonville University at the UCF Soccer Complex.

Four different Knights scored, including a pair of goals from forward Cameron Cooksey, and the rest of the team were firing on all cylinders, a step ahead of JU in every aspect of the game.

"It's positive momentum," said head coach Bryan Cunningham. "We treated preseason like the regular season and it really showed tonight with their energy and their discipline in defending, and that is what we are most proud of."

Jacksonville missed a golden opportunity to grab the early momentum just a minute into the game, ringing a shot off the crossbar from close-range.

The Dolphins never fully recovered. The Dolphins managed just five shots on goal the rest of the game as Knights goalkeeper Shawn Doyle preserved the shutout, at times making it look relatively easy.

"We had a little bit of luck," said sophomore midfielder Nicholas Robson, who had a goal and two assists in the game. "But we earned our luck."

The Knights offense came roaring back, scoring just 12 minutes into the game. Sophomore Spencer Scott found himself in the right place at the right time and slammed home the first goal of the 2010 campaign on a bad rebound given up by Jacksonville's goalkeeper.

Cooksey extended the lead to 2-0 in the 23rd minute with a great individual effort, first getting past a JU defender with a quick move to his left and then beating the goalie with a quick shot to the far post.

"I just ran over to the ball, stopped for a second, faked one way, went the other way, and just tucked it into the corner," said Cooksey, who also added an assist in the game. "But I think it was a great play from our team because we won the ball in our half, brought it up quickly and got it on the attack."

The Knights third goal came courtesy of a Robson penalty kick near the end of the half.

After UCF played the ball into the attacking zone, forward Luiz Yamashita was taken down by a foul in the box and was awarded a penalty kick. Robson took over from there and his goal put the game out-of-reach.

"We kind of clicked. Just the little things came together tonight," said Robson. "Everything went well and we just worked as a good, cohesive unit out there."

After a preseason filled with second-half offensive letdowns, Cunningham has stressed the importance of coming out strong to start the second half of games, and the Knights proved they were up to the challenge.

After some back and forth action early in the half, senior defender Yaron Bacher corralled the ball 40 yards from the goal and showed no hesitation, blasting a shot into the top-left corner of the net.

His left-footed rocket in the 77th minute left Dolphin players standing in disbelief and set off a wild celebration on the UCF sideline.

"It's about playing for both halves, playing for 90 minutes, and making sure we are constantly putting pressure on the opposing team," said Cunningham. "Coming out of halftime it was imperative for us to not stop the momentum we had in the first half."

The Knights added their last goal just before the final whistle.

Cooksey chased down a ball off of a broken play in the box, and fired in his second goal of the game to lock up the 5-0 victory.

Next up for the Knights is Florida Atlantic, who come into town Monday at 3 p.m. The Owls lost their season-opener at Jacksonville 2-1 in overtime.