Knights pass Memphis in first round of C-USA championship

The Knights avenged their regular season loss to Memphis by defeating the Tigers 4-3 in overtime in the first-round of the Conference USA championship.

Sophomore McKauly Tulloch recorded a hat trick in the victory, including the overtime goal that sealed the deal.

"It never goes according to script," coach Bryan Cunningham said in a release. "We have an experienced group. They kept battling and persevered. I couldn't be happier for our players."

The teams went back and forth scoring goals throughout the match. Also scoring for the Knights was junior Malcolm Reed, who scored in the 20th minute off of a Tulloch assist.

Tulloch's hat trick, the first for UCF since 2004, boosted his scoring total to 15 on the season. The sophomore started the season hot, scoring goals in each of the first 7 games. Tulloch entered the night's match without a goal since Oct. 1.

"(Tulloch) is back doing what he does best, scoring goals. And as always, our players do a great job of finding him," Cunningham said.

6 Knights were honored on Tuesday by being named to one of the All-Conference teams. Seniors Warren Creavalle and Kevan George, accompanied by junior Andrew Quintana were named to the Conference's first team.

Junior Nik Robson and sophomore Tulloch were named to the third team and Leonardo Ayala was named to the All-Freshman team.

The win sets up a semi-final matchup with 2nd seeded UAB on Friday at 8:30 p.m. UAB beat UCF 1-0 when the teams met on Oct. 15.

"We now have to turn our attention to UAB. We suffered a tough loss there in October. I hope our players will be up for the game, which will feature two evenly-matched teams," Cunningham said.