ORLANDO, FLA. - Old Dominion men’s soccer fell to UCF, 5-1 on Saturday night in Orlando, Florida at the UCF Soccer Complex.
“We conceded at a really bad time in the first half after being very much in the game,” said ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea. “In the second half we let the game get away from us and let mistakes compound. There is still a lot of football left to play, and we need to bounce back on Wednesday.”
Old Dominion falls to 9-4 with the loss and is now 1-4 in Sun Belt action.
UCF (6-3-3, 2-2-1) struck first with one minute remaining in the first half, Erik Vazquez drove down the left wing, entered the box, and cut the ball back on his left foot. He struck the ball hard, low, and to the near post to beat Alexander Aguilar to take a 1-0 lead.
UCF found a second goal, Alex Partera beat an ODU defender on the left wing and drove towards the byline. Partera cut a pass back towards the middle of the box to find Joey Mueller who struck the ball hard with his left foot into the roof of the net to take a 2-0 lead.
The Monarchs were given a lifeline in the 72nd minute when UCF’s German Moreno put in a dangerous challenge against ODU’s Jacopo Caprile. The Silver and Blue won the ball back in its own defensive final third and were looking to counter, but a high footed challenge by German nailed Caprile in the knee. McVea used a coaching challenge to initiate a review, and after the referee, Mario Maric, went to monitor, he came to the conclusion to send Moreno off.
But, the Knights would find a third from Takahiro Fujita in the 81st minute. UCF won a free kick at the edge of the box. Partera stepped up to take the set piece and elected to lay the ball off to Fujita. He struck the ball hard but hit ODU’s wall, but a fortunate bounce saw the ball fall back at his feet. His second attempt was able to beat Aguilar to make the score 3-0.
The Silver and Blue conceded a fourth goal in the 84th after Aguilar tried to claim a bouncing ball at the edge of the box. He missed the target and UCF’s Drew Hansen snapped onto the loose ball and slotted it into the back of the net for a 4-0 lead.
ODU earned a penalty kick after George Maire won a header at the top of the box, his pass went in between Rourke and Mile Zivkovic. UCF’s goalkeeper Matisse Hebert came off his line and clattered into Rourke to draw the foul. Rourke stepped up and converted from the spot. His shot went to the bottom left corner and Hebert dove to his right as the shot went in to cut into the Knight’s lead, 4-1.
UCF’s Hansen scored his second goal of the night with 28 seconds remaining to give the Knights a 5-1 lead. Mueller won a header in the middle of the pitch and sent Hansen through, one-on-one with Aguilar, and he tucked his finish into the bottom right corner.
David Chapman was the only outfield player on the Monarchs to never leave the field with 90 minutes of action. Jason Purks led the team with two shots on goal followed by Ludovico Vicini and Rourke with one each.
Aguilar played 90 minutes in goal and made two saves, his record in goal falls to 9-4. Hebert made three saves in 90 minutes and earned the win to improve to 6-3-3.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion heads back to Norfolk, Virginia to face Georgia State on Wednesday, October 21 at 6 p.m. before heading to Conway, South Carolina to face Coastal Carolina on Sunday, October 25 at 6 p.m.