Junior Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) gave UCF a 1-0 edge with a goal at the 32-minute mark. Two minutes later, junior Eduardo Jimenez (San Juan, Puerto Rico) scored. Sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica), who leads the country in points per game, scored twice in the second half and now has 12 goals in only eight matches this season.

With the triumph, the Knights snapped a three-match winning streak for the Mustangs (5-1, 0-1). SMU was coming off a 2-1 victory at No. 18 UCLA.

“SMU is a first-class team. Tonight we knew that we would need a quick start,” UCF head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “We were able to go up 2-0 and that got us going for the rest of the match.”

The contest was the second this week against a ranked opponent for the Knights. On Wednesday, host UCF opened C-USA play with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Kentucky. The Wildcats are ranked 21st nationally by the NSCAA. SMU is listed at No. 21 in the Soccer America poll.

Robson put UCF on the board in the first half after he corralled a rebound and scored from six yards out. Just over two minutes later, Tulloch crossed the ball over to Jimenez who beat SMU goalkeeper Jamie Ibarra.

Tulloch’s first goal came at the 55-minute mark from eight yards out and was assisted by senior Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.). He added another score 14 minutes later off a feed from senior Kevan George (Roxborough, Trinidad).

The win over SMU was the second-straight for the Knights, who posted a 2-1 victory over the fifth-ranked Mustangs last year in Orlando. Playing SMU for the fourth time in on the road, the Knights picked up their first win in Dallas Saturday.

“Playing at SMU is never easy,” Cunningham said. “It is extremely difficult for a road team to win at SMU. I am very proud of our players. They took advantage of chances. This was a great win.”

UCF improved to 4-0-1 away from home this season.

Junior Shawn Doyle (Fort Myers, Fla.) totaled six saves in the win. SMU got goals from Ben Hill at the 42-minute mark and Damian Rosales with 17 minutes to play.

Eight Knights each logged 90 minutes in the contest.

The match, which featured a 70-minute lightning and rain delay, ended when Creavalle knocked the ball into the left corner of the goal after securing a corner kick from junior Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand). The Knights went down 1-0 early, but played with more energy following the weather delay.

“I’m so proud of my team tonight,” UCF head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “I don’t know who we were in the first 30 minutes of that game, but we came out after the rain delay a totally different team. I challenged them to be the team that we are capable of being.”

UCF tied the match at 1-1 at the 38:24 mark when sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica) slipped past the lone defender back for the Wildcats and scored past Tyler Beadle. Creavalle and senior Kevan George (Roxborough, Trinidad) assisted on the goal, which was the 10th of the season for Tulloch, who leads the nation in points per game.

UCF finished with a 19-12 shot advantage and took eight corner kicks during the match. Kentucky entered the contest tied for first in the nation with 25 total goals, but the Wildcats’ scoring opportunities were limited by UCF’s defense.

Kentucky grabbed a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the opening half when Tyler Riggs tapped the ball into the open goal after UCF’s goalkeeper, junior Shawn Doyle (Fort Myers, Fla.), slipped on the wet field.

The contest was the first of eight league matches this year for the Knights.

“It’s huge,” Creavalle said of starting off C-USA play with a victory. “We started off with a win like that last year and it really set us up for the rest of the season.”

UCF had several good scoring opportunities late in the match, and almost ended the contest in regulation when senior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.) found sophomore Steven Lamberta (Temecula Valley, Calif.) in the box for a header that went just left of the goal with two minutes to play. Tulloch setup Creavalle with a great pass with seven minutes to go, but the senior was whistled for offsides before he booted the ball into the goal past Beadle.

The physical contest featured 38 total fouls and three yellow cards.

Tulloch attempted six shots in the winning effort, and Creavalle had three shots. Doyle recorded four saves as he picked up his sixth win of the year.

As a result of Sunday’s big win, the Knights have matched the 1997 and 2001 UCF squads for the best start in school history at the Division I level.

The Knights, who outshot Mercer (1-3-1) 17-8 during the match, led 2-0 at halftime after a pair of goals from sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica). The UCF advantage grew to 4-0 nine minutes into the second half after junior Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) and senior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.) both scored within a minute.

“I was really happy with our player’s attitude,” UCF head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “We were playing on the road and our approach was very professional. We were ready to go at the opening whistle, and never looked back.”

Tulloch, who scored on a quick turnaround shot from 20 yards out 15 minutes into the match and then beat Mercer goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh on a breakaway setup by Robson with 40:54 on the clock, recorded six shots and also assisted on Cooksey’s goal. The Knights were aggressive from the start as Tulloch had a pair of shots on goal the first five minutes of the match. Later, his two goals brought his total on the year to eight in only five matches.

Robson opened the scoring in the second half by getting past Ranjitsingh on a penalty kick at the 48:43 mark. Less than one minute later, Tulloch took a shot and Cooksey scored off the rebound.

Three minutes after the Bears got on the board with a Ehjayson Henry goal, UCF junior Luiz Yamashita (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored from inside the box, assisted by Cooksey and senior Kevan George (Decatur, Ga.).

Nineteen Knights saw action against the Bears.

“We were good going forward today. A lot of players got involved,” Cunningham said. “It was good to see us finish our chances. We were able to get every player minutes today. That will help us in the long run.”

Junior Shawn Doyle (Fort Myers, Fla.) logged just over 71 minutes in the winning effort and posted one save before sophomore Will Hectico (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) entered the contest.

Junior Ben Hunt (Auckland, New Zealand) scored the Knights’ opening goal in the 37th minute. UCF improved to 3-0 with the victory.

“Belmont is a very good team, much credit to them and their coaching staff,” head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “They came out prepared and they made it difficult for us so we had to play hard and when we got that third goal it put the game away.”

Hunt’s goal came from a header off a throw in from senior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.), who collected an assist along with Tulloch.

Tulloch’s first goal was a cross shot over the box into the far left corner of the net. Senior Spencer Scott (Palm City, Fla.) collected the assist.

Belmont’s (1-2) Brandon Tarr scored the lone goal for the Bruins in the 80th minute to bring the score to 2-1.

Tulloch’s second goal came in the 82nd minute as he tripped up the Belmont goalkeeper for an easy tap in. The Knights outshot the Bruins 22-14, and had the advantage in corner kicks 7-3.

“From the coaching staff, to the trainers and down to the guys on the field we all want to win and we all strive for perfection,” Cunningham added. “It’s fun to watch how intense they are in training and in everything we do and it pays off.”

Junior goalkeeper Shawn Doyle played 90 minutes for UCF and put aside five shots.

But it was Alashe’s goal four minutes into overtime that was the heart-breaking end to the Knights’ historic 2010 season. Hamoody Saad’s freekick from 35 yards out was deflected by a leaping Alashe inside the box into the far corner of the net for the sudden-victory tally.

Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) opened the scoring just nine minutes in on a touch inside the box past the sprawling Michigan goalkeeper, Chris Blais. Cameron Cooksey’s (Marietta, Ga.) throw-in from just in front of the UCF bench sailed over the Wolverine defense to the top of the box. Sophomore A.J. Nelson (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) headed the ball to the far post where Robson was waiting to knock in his 11th goal of the season.

Despite UCF scoring the only goal of the half, Michigan dominated play in the early going. The Wolverines finally broke through with the tying goal from Justin Meram in the 50th minute.

Michigan continued to dominate the second half as it had several scoring opportunities throughout the period. All were turned aside by Doyle and the UCF defense.

It looked as if the Wolverines would score the go-ahead goal with just over 11 minutes showing on the clock, but sophomore Andrew Quintana (Miami, Fla.) cleared the ball off the line and away from danger in front of the Knights’ goal.

The Wolverines continued to control play through the end of regulation and into overtime leading to the game winner.

Michigan will now move on to play Conference USA Champion South Carolina next Sunday in Columbia.

UCF stormed to a commanding two-goal lead in a dominant first half and got a third goal in the second half from emotional senior leader Yaron Bacher to rout arch-rival USF 3-0 for the second NCAA victory in school history.

“We don’t think there’s a team in the country that can stop us when we play our game,” Bacher said. “We just have to stay focused, keep working hard and not get ahead of ourselves.”

UCF got a header from Ben Hunt and a penalty kick from Nik Robson in a first half in which it outshot the Bulls (9-6-4) 10-3. The Knights won in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004 when they beat FIU 1-0 in the first round.

Bacher, one of just three seniors on UCF’s youth-filled team, scored on a rocket of a kick from 25 yards out in the 65th minute to put the game out of reach. UCF’s 3-0 win is the most lopsided victory against USF in 29 games all-time.

In the final minutes of the game, head coach Bryan Cunningham embraced UCF Athletics Director Keith Tribble for an emotional hug. Cunningham told Tribble last fall that he felt UCF was on the verge of a breakthrough season, and he proved true with the Knights re-writing the record books much of this season.

“I think I was the first head coach that Keith hired here and it’s always been my goal to make him proud,” Cunningham said. “He does so much for us and for me personally and he’s always believed in us even when we weren’t so good. He believed in my vision and I love beating USF and I know he loves it when we beat USF. It’s great for our athletics department.”

UCF (12-4-3) advances to face 10th-seeded Michigan (14-4-3) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Mich. UCF was hosting a men’s NCAA soccer game for the first time in the program’s history, and the Knights continued to be nearly unbeatable at home. The Knights posted their seventh home shutout at home this season in nine games and have allowed just three goals in Orlando all year.

UCF’s strong suit all season has been its defense. The Knights allowed just 15 goals in 18 games all season. UCF goalkeeper Shawn Doyle, who was rarely tested on Thursday, had his eighth shutout of the season.

“In the past we really hadn’t had that homefield advantage feeling, but this year we have the motto to protect our house,” Bacher said. “We’re really priding ourselves on that this year.”

The Knights had double-digit wins this season for the first time since 2004, fulfilling the vast promise that Cunningham saw in the squad coming into the season. UCF was the lone team to beat national powerhouse SMU during the regular season, and authored its longest unbeaten streak in 25 years (nine games) throughout the regular season.

UCF jumped to a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute of the first half on a header by Hunt, a sophomore, that was set up by a throw-in from the left side. Seconds later, the Knights briefly thought they had gone ahead 2-0, but Warren Creavalle’s boot from the left hit the side of the net.

UCF did take a commanding 2-0 lead in the final minute of the first half when Creavalle was fouled in the box and the Knights were awarded a penalty kick. Robson, UCF’s star sophomore from Auckland, New Zealand, drilled the penalty kick past the keeper for the team’s second goal.

Robson proved himself to be an elite offensive player during the regular season, scoring nine goals and delivering nine assists to give him the 19th-best point total (27) in the nation.

“This game shows that it’s a new era for UCF,” Robson said. “I think this is the best game that UCF has ever had. I think we’re going to be really good for years to come.”

Back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since winning the Atlantic Sun three-straight years from 2002-04, UCF entered the NCAA’s ranked No. 29 in the RPI. The Knights hadn’t played since Nov. 12, a 2-1 loss to Tulsa in the Conference USA Tournament, but used that loss as motivation for Thursday’s game.

“The team was so re-energized when we found out that we got the (NCAA) bid on Monday. We’ve been awesome at home all year long and I really felt good about the game today,” Cunningham said. “USF is a tremendous team, but the boys stuck to the game plan, executed and a shutout is great against a high-powered team like them.”

John Denton’s Knights Insider appears on UCFathletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.

Ishmael made seven tackles in the game, six of them solo, while also adding an interception and forcing a fumble. The interception came on UAB’s first possession of the game and led to a score that quickly put UCF on top 7-0. The forced fumble, coming on the opening drive of the second half, was returned 56 yards for a touchdown by Josh Robinson, putting UCF on top 28-0 and in complete control of the game.

For the season, Ishmael leads the Knights with 32 tackles, 22 of which have been solos. He has been a rock in the secondary as the Knights have proven to be one of the nation’s top defenses thus far in 2010. UCF ranks second nationally in passing efficiency defense (92.29 rating), fifth in passing defense (148.2 ypg), eighth in scoring defense (13.8 ppg) and ninth in total defense (265.2 ypg). Only Cal also ranks in the top 10 in each of these four categories.

This marks the second time in three games that a Knight has won the award. Darius Nall took home the weekly honor after UCF’s Sept. 18 win at Buffalo when he made a career-high and team-leading nine tackles against the Bulls, including three tackles for loss and a pair of sacks, broke up a pass and was credited with a forced hurry, creating an errant pass that Bruce Miller intercepted and returned 30 yards for a touchdown.

UCF (3-2, 1-0 C-USA) will put its seven-game C-USA winning streak on the line on Wednesday night as it heads north to face Marshall (1-4, 0-1) at 8 p.m. live on ESPN. The Knights will then return home a week from Saturday to play host to Rice at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 in its Homecoming contest. For ticket information, call (407) 823-1000 or logon to UCFAthletics.com.

Shawn Doyle

Sophomore goalkeeper Shawn Doyle (Ft. Myers, Fla.) of the No. 24 UCF men’s soccer team was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week for his consecutive shutouts of Florida International and Memphis this past week. Doyle helped the Knights sweep their three-game homestand with a 2-0 win over FIU and a 3-0 victory over Memphis, stopping three shots in both games to earn the conference accolade.

Against the Golden Panthers, the second-year keeper was tested with a late freekick opportunity. After making the initial save on a ball that sailed over the wall, the Knights’ keeper scrambled to his right to force the rebound opportunity wide of the goal.

Following his fourth shutout of the season, Doyle earned his fifth in the next game against the Tigers on Saturday night. Doyle went nearly the first 80 minutes of the contest without seeing a shot from Memphis. Then, after the Knights scored their third goal of the game, the Tigers went on the attack.

In the final 10 minutes, Doyle was called upon to make three key saves to preserve the shutout. Stopping one shot from long range, Doyle then had to stop two rebound chances from Memphis’ best player, Parker Duncan, on the doorstep.

“I didn’t do very much in the first half,” Doyle said following the game. “At the end, there was that 10-minute span where they came at us pretty hard after we scored our third goal. They started pushing and that was something that we had to withstand to save the shutout.

“The team’s defense as a whole has worked well all season. I haven’t had to make too many saves and that’s a credit to them as they have been throwing their bodies around and blocking shots for me.”

Doyle appreciates the defensive efforts in front of him, but likes when he is called upon to help his team win games.

“It’s nice to have something to do. It feels good to contribute to the team’s goals.”

This season, Doyle now has a conference-leading goals-against average of 0.59 this season. He has stopped .818 percent of the shots he has seen and has posted five shutouts, both of which lead the league. His eight wins in 2010 are the most by a UCF keeper in a season since the Knights joined C-USA in 2005. UCF currently sits atop the league standings at with 12 points at 4-0, while 8-2 overall.

The Knights put their perfect 4-0 conference record on the line when they travel to Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.

UCF again scored a late first-half goal, with junior Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.) netting his second of the season with just 40 seconds remaining. Sophomore Eduardo Jimenez (San Juan, Puerto Rico), fresh off his first career goal in the Knights’ last game, picked up an assist, as well as senior and team captain Yaron Bacher (Atlanta, Ga.) on the game’s opening tally.

“It was huge for us to get that goal and some momentum headed into the half,” head coach Bryan Cunningham said.

“After scoring out first goal, we are always looking for that second goal,” Creavalle said. “After half, we wanted to go out and we were able to get it early on in the half.”

That early second-half goal came from junior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.) in the 56th minute. The third-year forward was able to take a pass from Creavalle and find the back of the net for his fourth of the season. Sophomore Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) was also credited with an assist after putting the centering pass to Creavalle to start the play.

Robson was not done, collecting the primary assist on Luiz Yamashita’s (Sao Paulo, Brazil) goal in the 70th minute for UCF’s third goal. Robson’s shot was blocked out into the middle of the penalty box to a waiting Yamashita, who corralled the loose ball and put into the net for his second goal in as many games.

Robson now has three assists in his last two games and has at least one point in each of the Knights’ last seven contests.

After holding the Tigers without a shot through the first 82 minutes of play, UCF goalkeeper Shawn Doyle (Ft. Myers, Fla.) was tested several times in the final minutes. Stopping a Memphis shot pointblank, Doyle also had to turn aside a rebound from the foot of Parker Duncan waiting on the door step.

The second-year keeper has now posted consecutive shutouts and has five this season.

“As a whole, the team has played really hard and that’s what we’ve been trying to do this entire year,” Doyle said. “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’ defense again was on its game, limiting opportunities and tightening in the final minutes with Memphis continuing to sustain offensive pressure.

“This is a conference game and you knew that Memphis would be fighting every minute of the match,” Cunningham added. “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 Knights head back on the road for their next game. UCF will travel to Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky on Oct. 13 for the start of a three-game road swing.

FIU drops to 0-2 in C-USA games and are now 4-5 overall.

“Forget about being the favorite, every conference game is tough,” head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “Our focus was on tonight. We kept telling ourselves that this was the biggest game of the year and when we look back at the end of the season we know that this game validated what we did against SMU.”

Sophomore Eduardo Jimenez (San Juan, Puerto Rico) scored the game’s opening goal and the first of his career on a centering pass from Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) in the 44th minute. Robson’s corner kick was returned to the second-year forward, who beat two FIU defenders on the left sideline and centered the ball into the penalty box. After the pass ricocheted off two Golden Panthers, Jimenez pounced on the loose ball and fired a shot to the far corner for the 1-0 lead headed into half.

“All week we said this was going to be a hard game to win,” Jimenez said. “Coach stressed that this game was going to be pivotal to our success the rest of the season. He told me I was going to get my goal tonight and it was an incredible feeling to get it that way.

“It was a momentum shift for us to get the first one. They were coming at us right before half, but we pushed the ball up and I got a chance and it meant a lot to me to score that goal, but I know that it meant a lot for my teammates too,” Jimenez added.

After 23 minutes of midfield play to start the second half, Luiz Yamashita (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored his first goal as a member of the Knights in the 69th minute. Kevan George’s (Roxborough, Trinidad) long high pass that started just outside the top of his own penalty box landed 20 yards past midfield for the sprinting Yamashita.

The redshirt sophomore, running in an all-out sprint, got behind an FIU defender and corralled the ball. Two strides and Yamashita’s low shot rolled past a challenging Lopez and into the far back corner of the goal for the two-goal advantage.

“The coaches and my teammates have been giving me a lot of confidence,” Yamashita said. “I knew my first goal was coming and I am glad that it came tonight in this game.”

The Golden Panthers’ Sebastian Frings nearly cut the lead in half with a long freekick from 30 yards out in 78th minute. Frings’ kick made its way over the wall, but a diving Shawn Doyle in goal for UCF turned aside the attempt. A rebound attempt from Florian Schwertl seemed destined for an open net, but a scrambling Doyle rushed the shot as it sailed over the crossbar.

Doyle now has four shutouts this season after stopping all three FIU shots that found their way on goal Tuesday.

“Eduardo has had plenty of chances this fall to put the ball in the back of the net,” Cunningham said. “He has been a bit unlucky so it was great to see him score a goal tonight. At the same time Luiz has been fantastic all year. He has put himself in positions and he was finally able to get on the board tonight. I hope now that since both have broken through that it will come a little easier for them to score with the pressure off.”

UCF returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 9 when it hosts Memphis. The Tigers and the Knights will kick off from the UCF Soccer Complex at 7 p.m.

The win keeps the Knights unbeaten in Conference USA play at 2-0 and 6-2 overall, while the loss drops the previously unbeaten Mustangs to 1-1 in league play and 9-1 overall.

With exactly 25 minutes remaining in the game, Scott corralled a pass from sophomore A.J. Nelson (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) at midfield and sprinted toward goal. From 20 yards out, Scott fired a hard, high shot that found its way into the top right corner. SMU goalkeeper Craig Hill dove to his left, deflecting the ball with his hand, but the power behind Scott’s drive was too much for the Mustangs’ keeper to stop.

“It’s my mom’s birthday today, so when I scored I just wanted to get over to where she was and tell her that was her present,” Scott said. “That was one of the biggest goals of my playing career and that was the biggest win we have since I’ve been here.”

“It’s a big win for the program,” head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “From start to finish, the players executed the game plan perfectly other than the one beautiful goal they (SMU) scored. Having such a large and supportive crowd behind us the whole game was unbelievable. The fans were really great tonight for us.”

Sophomore Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) scored his seventh goal of the season with a brilliant move around the Mustang defense in the 11th minute for the game’s opening tally. Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.) beat a defender just inside midfield and put a touch pass to his left to the sprinting Robson. The second-year Knight made a quick move to his right, turning the SMU defender around, and put a low show inside the far post to make it 1-0 for the Black and Gold.

Robson has now scored in each of the last three games and ranks among the nation’s best point-producing players this season.

SMU tied the game in the 26th minute on Jusue Soto’s third goal of the year. Positioned near the goal line to the left of the UCF goal, Robbie Derschang put a pass on the foot of Soto at the top of the penalty box. Soto fired a shot to the upper right corner for the equalizer and sent the teams into halftime tied, 1-1.

Scott’s goal was his third of the season, while Nelson collected his first assist of the 2010 campaign on the game winner.

Following Scott’s marker, SMU turned up the intensity, pushing for the goal that would tie the game and keep their unbeaten season alive. Those hopes were dashed by the UCF goalkeeper Shawn Doyle (Ft. Myers, Fla.) in the final minutes of the match.

Doyle recorded three saves in the game and prevented the Mustangs’ last-ditch efforts for the equalizer from happening. However, Doyle received tremendous support in front of him from the Knights’ defense.

Twice in the final seconds, UCF defenders were able to knock the ball out of danger and clear it from the penalty box.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Knights’ bench erupted in celebration with the 2-1 victory. The win was also the first in program history over the Mustangs. UCF had previously been 0-3-2 against SMU entering Friday night’s contest.

“It was a massive step forward winning that game and moving to 2-0 in the conference,” Cunningham added. “As a whole the conference is doing incredibly well this year and to beat a team of SMU’s caliber is a big step for this team and something that I hope will carry over to FIU.”

The Knights return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 5 when they host Florida International at the UCF Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. The game can also be seen live on the Bright House Sports Network.