CORVALLIS, Ore. - UCF learned a lot about itself on Sunday afternoon in a 1-0 loss at Oregon State at Paul Lorenz Field. The Knights played a man-down for the final 77 minutes and had a couple of opportunities to score the equalizer.

For the second game in a row, UCF found itself down a man as senior defender Leonardo Ayala made a hard tackle as the last man back and received a red card in the 23rd minute. The Knights also played without a key offensive weapon in junior Romario Williams, who had to sit out the game after being given a red card in the 76th minute of the season opener at Portland.

"We had two tough road games here on this swing that we knew were going to be difficult," head coach Bryan Cunningham said. "It was tough to battle with a man down after coming off a similar circumstance on Friday night. We must show a lot more self- and team-discipline, but credit Oregon State for scoring the goal and holding onto the lead. Our players battled to the end and showed a lot of heart, but we could not get past playing a man down for so long."

Just three minutes after Ayala was sent off, the Beavers struck with their only goal of the match at 26:48. Graham Smith served up a ball into the 18-yard box, which was handled by Devonte Small. He moved the ball across to Khiry Shelton, who scored his second goal of the campaign.

The first opportunity following the card for the Knights came as junior Hadji Barry notched a shot on goal from the right wing at 30:47.

After the Beavers controlled play for a period, UCF made an adjustment in the final 15 minutes of the half to create some more offense playing a man down.

The Knights' defense kept most of the Beavers' 22 shots from the outside, but when senior goalkeeper Sebastian Evers was called upon, he made the stop. The Miami, Fla., native registered eight saves to tie Warren Russ (1986-89) for seventh all-time on the school's career saves list with 150.

A total of six shots were tallied by the Knights with two on goal stopped by Nolan Wirth.

"In the final 10 to 15 minutes, we pushed some numbers forward and earned a couple of good looks at the goal, but nothing ever materialized," Cunningham said. "Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of another one-goal loss early in the season, but this was a good learning experience for our team."

The Knights recorded three shots during the final 15 minutes coming from freshmen Walker Dawkins, Rasmus Svennesen and Barry.

UCF presented by Napleton's Volkswagen returns to the UCF Soccer Complex on Friday for a battle with Florida Atlantic at 5 p.m. Fans can watch the first three home games of the season for free on CBS College Sports Live.

Season tickets, which includes a general admission seat to all regular season home matches and a special soccer scarf, are now on-sale for $30. Youth (age 2-17) season tickets can be purchased for $15. For more information on how to purchase tickets click here or call 407-UCF-1000.

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