Knights fired up for SMU in Sweet 16
UCF senior forward Cal Jennings is looking forward to facing off with the familiar SMU Mustangs Saturday during the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I mean, we’ve seen them a lot, at this point, you can call it a rivalry,” Jennings said ahead of the match slated to okick off at 8:30 p.m. at Westcott Field in Dallas.
“The results didn’t go necessarily how we wanted them, but we felt we did some things well. … We execute a little bit better and we feel we [could’ve] come out on top.”
The Knights (15-2-2) and Mustangs (17-1-1) met twice earlier this season.
Their first match was at SMU on Oct. 6, which ended in a 3-3 double overtime draw.
The Mustangs beat the Knights in three consecutive American Athletic Conference championship games, earning 1-0 wins in 2017 and earlier this year. The 2018 matchup was settled by penalty kicks.
“This is a big rivalry,” UCF coach Scott Calabrese said. “We’ve met in three consecutive conference finals; the regular season games are always incredibly meaningful and here we are again now in the NCAA tournament and playing in a very meaningful match.”
For Calabrese, Saturday’s result will hinge on the Knights’ preparation.
“We obviously know SMU really well and we’re going to look at our last performance against them,” Calabrese said. “That’ll help inform us of the things that we need to be more ready for, more prepared for. So come Saturday, we fully understand playerfor-player what we have to do.”
UCF, the No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, defeated Missouri State 2-1 last week. to advance to the NCAA Tournament third round for the first time in school history
The Mustangs entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 8 national seed and defeated Coastal Carolina 1-0 last weekend in double overtime during secondround action. SMU (17-1-1) is on a seven-game win streak entering the UCF matchup and is making its 19th Sweet 16 appearance.
Calabrese said SMU’s momentum and postseason experience doesn’t mean much heading into the game and praised how fired up his players have been all season to reach this point.
“We’re so motivated,” Calabrese said. “There’s such a positive energy around the fact that we’re playing in these big games and honestly, at this point of the season, that’s what you need and that’s what you want, people that want to continue their season.”