UCF vs. Memphis recap

The UCF men's soccer team added another big conference win to their resume Saturday night, blanking Memphis 3-0 for their fifth straight victory, to stay perfect in C-USA play this season.

The Knights, (8-2, 4-0) ranked No. 24 by Soccer America, got a late first-half goal from junior Warren Creavalle and some clutch saves down the stretch from goalkeeper Shawn Doyle to keep the Tigers (3-7,0-3) from cutting into the lead in front of a home crowd of 611 fans at the UCF Soccer Complex.

"We're playing well, it is a good brand of soccer, and we are getting results," said head coach Bryan Cunningham. "It's entertaining soccer for the fans and this is three straight games with tremendous fan support and we definitely appreciate it."

After a physical first 44 minutes of soccer that featured several fouls and yellow cards for both teams, the Knights got one last opportunity and showed that they weren't content going into halftime without a goal.

With just 40 seconds left in the first half, sophomore Eduardo Jimenez put a shot on net from the top of the penalty box that was blocked by the Tigers defense. The rebound found its way onto the foot of Creavalle on the opposite side of the net who one-timed the ball past diving Memphis goalkeeper Jordan Leedle. Senior defender and team captain Yaron Bacher also picked up an assist on the game's opening score.

"It was huge for us to get that goal and some momentum headed into the half," added Cunningham.

The late first-half goal seemed to energize the Knights as a much more free flowing style of play opened up the second half. UCF capitalized on a broken play just 11 minutes into the frame to put the Tigers in a 2-0 hole.

"I think that first goal really raised (our confidence), and seemed to give us a spark," said Creavalle. "After getting the first one we are always hunting for that second goal and it was great to get it early on in the second half."

Sophomore Nicholas Keown-Robson gave a short touch-pass to Creavalle who put a laser on net from the right side of the penalty box. The shot ricocheted off a Memphis defender and rolled slowly toward the net where junior Cameron Cooksey was waiting to put his fourth goal of the season past Leedle.

Redshirt sophomore Luiz Yamashita got his second goal in as many games in the 70^th minute to put UCF up 3-0 and crush any hopes of a Memphis comeback. Yamashita was on the receiving end of a beautiful through-pass from Robson, resulting in a short breakaway opportunity that the second year Knight buried easily.

Robson finished with two assists in the game and is the Knights leading scorer with seven goals and seven assists in ten games this year.

"This is a conference game and you knew that Memphis would be fighting every minute of the match," said Cunningham. "Credit to all the players for holding that team off in the late stages and not allow them to score one against us, which is always nice."

The Tigers finally got some offensive pressure, registering their first shot on net in the 83^rd minute of play but Doyle was there to make the diving stop on a shot from close-range. The sophomore goalkeeper made two more saves in the game and was named C-USA defensive player of the week after helping the Knights sweep their three-game home stand with consecutive shutouts of FIU and Memphis.

"As a whole, the team has played really hard and that's what we've been trying to do this entire year," said Doyle. "We've had the success so far because we have outworked teams and I think that defensively we have been grinding out games and that's how we have these shutouts."

The Knights put their perfect conference record on the line Wednesday Oct.13, traveling to Kentucky for a game at 7 p.m.