Jacksonville, Fla. – North Florida men's soccer (1-0-0) will play their second straight road match to open the season when they face Central Florida (0-1-0) on Sunday evening in Orlando, Fla. at 6 pm.

WHAT TO KNOW

• UNF is coming off a win in their season-opener against Georgia State and broke a five-game losing streak to the Panthers that dated back to the 2007 season.
• It only took the fan-voted ASUN Preseason Player of the Year, Jovoney Brown, three minutes to score his first goal of the season, assisted by Herbie Steigelman, in the win over Georgia State.
• The Ospreys were able to draw two fouls inside the box against the Panthers and executed on both penalty kicks to secure the victory on Thursday.
• Freshman Joaquin Acuna was the first freshman to score in a season-opener for the Ospreys since Jay Bolt in 2013.
• Preseason ASUN All-Conference selection LJ Estes and the UNF defense limited Georgia State to one shot on goal for the entirety of the match.
• A win over UCF on Sunday would be the first time since 2014 that the Ospreys start their season with a 2-0 record.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

UCF's top returners from last season are junior Gino Vivi and senior Yanis Leerman, who both were recently selected to the list of top 100 players in college soccer according to TopDrawer. Junior Robbie Soronellas is also a familiar face to watch for on Sunday, as he played for UNF from 2019-21.

The Knights went 2-0-0 in preseason play with wins over Stetson and FAU. In those two exhibitions matches combined, they outscored their opponents, 10-2.

In the regular-season opener for UCF, they suffered a 4-0 loss at home to FIU. They gave up two goals in each half, including a goal within the first four minutes, and allowed 16 total shots with nine of those shots on goal.

They also had nine fouls against the Panthers, which included two red cards for senior Caleb Franke and redshirt junior Gianluca Arcangeli. Both players will be suspended when they play the Ospreys on Sunday evening.

SERIES HISTORY

- UCF holds the advantage in the all-time series record, 7-5, over North Florida.
- However, UNF has won four straight games against the Knights with three of those wins occurring on the road.
- Their last match against UCF came in 2016 when they defeated the Knights, 2-1, in Orlando.

ON TAP

The Ospreys will play in their home-opener against Mercer on Friday, Sept 3. at Hodges Stadium.