ORLANDO, Florida – UCF goalkeeper Yannik Oettl made a career-high nine saves and Gino Vivi delivered the deciding penalty kick after two overtimes to send the Knights past No. 4-seeded SMU Thursday night in the second semifinal of the American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship at the UCF Soccer Complex.
The teams battled to a 1-1 draw through regulation and two overtime periods before the Knights won the penalty shootout 4-3 to advance in to the championship match.
The Knights (7-3-1) will face Tulsa Saturday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT for the American Athletic Conference title and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. UCF will make its fourth consecutive appearance in the championship final and looks for its first American tournament title.
Oettl, The American’s three-time Goalkeeper of the Year, delivered one of the best performances of his career on a day in which the Knights were outshot 26-11 and on the short end of a 9-3 discrepancy in corner kicks. Oettl made four saves in the first half to allow UCF to go into halftime in a scoreless draw and he made three huge stops in the two overtime periods.
The Mustangs (5-5-1) controlled play for much of the first overtime period, outshooting the Knights 5-0 in the first 10 minutes of extra time. Knut Ahlander had the best chance as his rip from 20 yards out was deflected by Oettl, and the rebound rolled just past the right post in the 98th minute.
Ahlander saw another chance turned aside by Oettl to start the second OT after a giveaway in the Knights’ defensive half. Skage Simonsen forced the turnover and found Ahlander wide, but Oettl got his right hand on Ahlander’s blast to keep the Knights alive. He then went low to smother Harvey Castro’s hard roller to the left post in the 101st minute.
SMU had another chance to win it just before the final whistle of overtime, but Skage Simonsen’s attempt with 11 seconds left just cleared the crossbar.
The penalty shootout went down to the fifth frame as the Mustangs’ Gabriel Costa, who had scored SMU’s lone goal in regulation on a penalty, curled a shot over the bar, leaving Vivi with a chance to end it. Vivi hit a hard shot to the left that got past the dive of Patrick Michael Hillyard to send UCF to the final.
Vivi, who connected on the clinching penalty, had helped to put UCF on the board in the 73rd minute when he sent a cross to Luca Dorado, who connected for his second goal of the season.
The UCF lead was short-lived as SMU answered in the 78th minute when Costa broke in on goal and was tripped in the box by a Knights defender. Costa sent the ensuing penalty kick past Oettl to the right side to make it 1-1.
Oettl’s nine saves bettered his previous career-best of eight stops, most recently done in the Knights’ 2-0 regular-season win against SMU March 13.
Cole Johnson made three saves for the Mustangs before yielding to Hillyard for the penalty kick round.
Saturday’s final sets up an intriguing matchup as UCF goes for its first American Athletic Conference tournament title in its fourth straight appearance in the final, while Tulsa goes for its fourth American crown after previously winning in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Tulsa has technically never lost in the American Championship, going 3-0-6 and winning all six penalty kick rounds in the tournament’s eight years.
2020 American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship
UCF Soccer Complex | Orlando, Florida
Semifinals – Thursday, April 15
No. 2 Tulsa 1, No. 3 Temple 1 (Tulsa advances on penalty kicks, 3-1)
No. 1 UCF 1, No. 4 SMU 1 (UCF advances on penalty kicks, 4-3)
Final – Saturday, April 17
Tulsa (6-3-2) vs. UCF (7-3-1) | 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT (ESPN+)