ORLANDO – On the heels of a 1-1 draw with the visiting Wake Forest Demon Deacons Saturday evening, the No. 17 UCF men’s soccer team is set to return to action Friday night when it hosts the UC Irvine Anteaters in the team’s first of two Space games this fall.
After a prolific first game that ended in a 3-1 season-opening victory against Mercer, the Knights (1-0-2) went on to play their first ranked opponent, the then-No. 23 Seattle Redhawks, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Aug. 25 and 31, respectively, in contests that both ended in a 1-1 draw.
Against the Demon Deacons, the Knights started off strong as newcoming midfielder Sora Funakoshiscored the first goal of the night as well as the first goal of his Division I collegiate career.
Funakoshi joined the Knights after spending two seasons at Cowley College in Arkansas City where he appeared in 37 matches, including 29 starts with 17 goals scored and 14 assists.
Wake Forest later managed an equalizer in the 77th minute, with no scoring on both teams’ ends happening the rest of the game to turn the tide.
With Funakoshi’s goal, the Knights have now seen their second player score his first collegiate goal within the team’s first three matches. Redshirt-freshman Drew Hansen was the first in the Aug. 25 game against the Redhawks, when he scored in the second half of the game.
With his first score, Funakoshi also became the fifth different Knights player to find the back of the net through two matches and joins Hansen and fifth year forward Lucca Dourado with two points for the Knights thus far. Funakoshi, Hansen and Dourado trail Emmanuel Bam and Clarence Awoudor, who co-lead the team with four points, respectively.
Funakoshi’s goal was preceded by goaltender Shane Wright’s first save of his collegiate career. The redshirt-freshman meticulously protected the Knights’ goal throughout in place of injured starter Juanvi Muñoz.
Since head coach Scott Calabrese took over at the beginning of the 2017 season, the Knights also moved their home record to 39-15-10 following the 1-1 Saturday draw with the Demon Deacons, good for a .688 win percentage. In Wake Forest, the Knights welcomed one of the most historically-successful programs in the nation to Orlando. The Demon Deacons pride themselves on their 10 all-time ACC regular-season titles, three ACC Tournament championships, 27 NCAA Tournament berths and six College Cup appearances.
Now, the Black and Gold are set to welcome the UC Irvine Anteaters to the UCF Soccer Complex. UC Irvine, coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023, and UCF are set to meet for the third time after their last meeting Sep. 9, 2022 that ended with a score of 3-2 and a UCF win.
The 2022 match took place in Anteater Stadium in California as Hurricane Kay was reaching post-tropical cyclone conditions. Even through the less than ideal conditions, the Anteaters were able to tie the score with UCF twice in the 32nd and 54th minutes before then-freshman Mael Haise scored the game-winning goal in the 77th minute. UC Irvine is set to bring back eight players including five starters who have played in the 2022 match to the Sep. 6 game Friday evening.
UC Irvine went undefeated last week with a 1-1 draw against Vermont and a 3-1 win over Mercyhurst on Sep. 1. Forward Marcus Lee took home Big West Freshman of the Week honors after he scored his first collegiate goal against Vermont.
Since the inception of the award four years ago, UC Irvine has won the award seven times with players Nolan DiCenzo, Agaton Pourshahidi, and Brady Treinen winning it themselves their freshman year. All three of these players are set to return with the 2024 squad.
Kickoff for the match is slated for 7 p.m. from the UCF Soccer Complex Friday evening, and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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