ORLANDO, Fla. – Central Florida scored twice in a five-minute span in the second half to rally for a 2-1 victory over the Kentucky men’s soccer team on Sunday at the UCF Soccer Complex.
The loss was the first for the Wildcats, which fell to 3-3-4 overall and 0-1-1 in Conference USA action. UCF improved to 5-3-1 and 1-0-1 in the league. Kentucky is winless in its last five games.
With his team trailing 1-0, Jake Howard netted the equalizer in the 72nd minute when his shot from the top of the box bent just inside the left post. He found himself with a free look after the ball was cleared out to him from a free kick.
In the 74th minute Mike Mattson almost gave the Golden Knights the lead when his header from a corner kick sailed just wide. Just two minutes later, Islam Rashwan served a corner to the exact same spot and Mattson buried the shot.
Kentucky had chances to force overtime, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Matt Baum (Cape Coral, Fla./Cypress Lake) almost had his second goal of the game in the 83rd minute only to see his header end up in the side netting.
In the 87th minute, Thomas Senecal (Bethesda, Md./The Maret School) and Ben Langwith (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnson) had back-to-back shots from inside the box saved.
After a sluggish first half by both teams, an energized Kentucky squad opened the second half strong and took the lead in the 50th minute. Riley O’Neill (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline) won the ball on the right flank broke away from the UCF defender.
As goalkeeper Ryan McIntosh came off the line, O’Neill fed the ball to the center of the box to a wide open Baum who scored easily. It was the first goal of the year for Baum and O’Neill’s fourth assist. O’Neill has scored or assisted on seven of Kentucky’s 12 goals this year.
The loss was just the second for UK since 2003 when scoring first. Kentucky is 24-2-3 in that span, with the only other loss coming to Indiana in the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky returns to action on Friday at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts Tulsa at the UK Soccer Complex.
