Knights etch their fifth victory in Space Game history

Photo courtesy of UCF Athletics

UCF men’s soccer dominated Saturday night, stamping a statement victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd in their annual Space Game, 4-0 at the UCF Soccer Complex.

The Knights (5-2-3, 1-1-1 SBC) walked out of the tunnel not in their traditional black and gold kits, but in their alternate Canaveral blue and black ones as the Citronauts for their annual Space Game.

The matchup between the Knights and the Herd marked their first meeting since the Knights beat the better end of a 3-1 in the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship.

Takahiro Fujita also secured his first ever career brace against his former team.

The defensive clean sheet now makes only seven goals allowed through ten matches for the Knights.

“It’s hard to keep a team as good as Marshall from not having their share,” head coach Scott Calabrese said after the win. “We should walk away from this game feeling we have a lot of confidence, and we’re really excited for what’s to come.”

The Citronauts had quite the scare early into the match as junior goalkeeper Matisse Hebert found himself on the ground in front of the goal.

However, a shot off the mark by Marshall’s Joshua Nugent eased fears for the Citronauts.

The two teams spent about the first ten minutes of the contest figuring each other out as they both shared a fair number of possessions.

The Thundering Herd (4-2-3, 1-1-1 SBC) began to apply pressure to the Citronauts backline. The Citronauts, meanwhile, struggled to find their footing in attack early.

As the Herd continued to apply pressure, the strong Citronauts’ defense fought to keep them out, and a crucial save by Hebert kept the game scoreless.

The Citronauts started to create more opportunities but couldn’t find the clinical finishes to end the attacks.

However, those attacks paid off when senior midfielder Hugo Vien found the back of the net in the 41st minute, assisted by sophomore defender Leny Jerome, to give the Citronauts a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

Hebert recorded two saves in the first half from an ambitious Marshall offense. Marshall’s attack accounted for seven shots, one shot on goal, and four corners in the half.

On the other side, UCF tallied three shots in the first half with one on goal and zero corners.

The Citronauts opened the second half with a great opportunity to extend their lead. However, sophomore midfielder Petter Wingsternaes forced a corner kick with a shot off target that was blocked.

The Citronauts continued to press offensively against the Herd backline.

The pressure paid off again when former Herd member and senior defender Takahiro Fujita headed in a set-piece goal in the 54th minute.

The goal marked Fujita’s third of the season; junior defender German Moreno assisted to make it 2-0.

Only three minutes later, Fujita found the back of the net once again for back-to-back goals and his fourth of the season for the Black and Gold.

Sophomore defender Jem Hewlett said Fujita is simply ‘magnificent.’

“He can do things that no one can really do on the pitch, and he’s a really good lad,” Hewlett said. “He takes on information really well, and he’s really good at getting us out of danger.”

The shot brought UCF’s lead to three and set them in full control of the match.

Down big in the match, Marshall pressed hard for another opportunity to get into the net. However, miscues and off-target shots kept the score right where it was.

The Herd pushed to create more chances; however, thanks to a strong Citronauts line, many shots didn’t challenge Hebert, leaving much to be desired in Marshall’s attack.

While holding a 3-0 lead, the Citronauts were still hungry for more points on the board, and in the 89th minute the lead only grew when junior midfielder Younes Boudinar powered through the back of the net on a free kick for his second of the season.

The clock struck zero, and the crowd of blue erupted as the Citronauts secured their fifth win of the season and their first conference victory.

“I’m really happy with the guys and their performance,” Calabrese said. “It was an important game for us, and we played how we wanted to play. We did things that help define us as a team and a program.”

The victory also marked UCF’s sixth clean sheet of the season for a strong Knights’ defense.

Hebert finished the game with four saves as the defense held the Herd to only two shots on goal on 12 total shots.

Hebert said the win sends a statement going forward, and the team will keep building off an impressive performance.

“I think it’s brilliant; we won 4-0,” Hebert said. “I think we’re going to build into that the rest of the season.”

The Knights hope to carry this momentum and shift their season as they hit the road to Conway, South Carolina, to battle the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Oct. 9 at the CCU Soccer Complex at 6 p.m.