C-USA annually presents $4,000 postgraduate scholarship awards to graduates as selected by the league’s faculty athletics representatives and approved by the board of directors.

“This is a great honor and I am very appreciative,” Scott said. “It was an honor to even be nominated for the scholarship because UCF has so many great student-athletes. My coaches, teammates and the academic support staff at UCF always pushed me to be the best student-athlete I could be. Without their support, I don’t think I would be where I am today.”

In May, Scott graduated from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in political science with a 3.66 grade-point average.

On the pitch, Scott helped the Knights reach the second round of the NCAA Championship as a junior and senior. In 2011, the midfielder played in and started 12 matches and recorded three assists. As a junior, Scott totaled three goals and eight assists.

Scott was a seven-time Dean’s List recipient and earned the prestigious President’s Honor Roll Certificate this past spring. He was active with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, serving as the marketing chairman as a junior and the vice president as a senior.

“You would be hard pressed to find a more deserving student-athlete to receive the postgraduate scholarship,” UCF head coach said. “Spencer was dedicated to success at UCF academically, athletically and socially. He did great work with SAAC and in the classroom and played a tremendous role with our team the last four years.”

Robson netted the game-winning goal at the 70-minute mark. Senior Spencer Scott (Palm City, Fla.) set up the score with a cross that was handled inside the box by freshman Matthew Gaskins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) before a spinning Robson shot across his body past Tulsa (5-10-0, 1-5-0) goalkeeper Michael Murray.

Robson, who now has six goals on the year, tied the match in the 65th minute when he scored on a free kick from 20 yards out.

The win over Tulsa was the first in nine tries for the Knights, who improved to 5-1 at home in 2011 with the victory. The Golden Hurricane grabbed a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the match when a Tulsa header bounced off a UCF defender and was controlled by Quinn Starker, who fired a shot above UCF redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sebastian Evers (Miami, Fla).

“We knew that this was going to be a tough match,” UCF head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “You can throw their record out. They are one of the best teams in the league. We knew it was going to be a battle. The players were up for it. Going down a goal early never helps, but give our players a lot of credit. We were able to battle back and come out of here with a nice win.”

The Golden Hurricane threatened to tie the match late, but the Knights clamped down defensively. With just over a minute to play, Murray left his usual position and fired off shot on goal. Evers, who was making his collegiate debut, made a diving save to knock away the surprising shot from his counterpart.

The contest was the first at home for the Knights since Sept. 28. UCF was slated to host South Carolina on Oct. 8, but the match was postponed due to heavy rains.

“People were saying, `you guys never play.’ We have not been home in a while, it is nice to be back,” Robson said. “(Conference games) are always tough. The last few minutes are always going to be a battle like that. We have learned our lessons from games where we have let a goal in the last minute, this year and last year. But we don’t do that anymore.”

The physical contest featured 32 total fouls and four yellow cards.

Evers totaled six saves in the winning effort. Tulsa recorded 11 shots, while the Knights had nine shots, with seven coming after halftime.

Junior Ben Hunt (Auckland, New Zealand) scored the Knights’ opening goal in the 37th minute. Å®ÆÍAV improved to 3-0 with the victory.

“Belmont is a very good team, much credit to them and their coaching staff,” head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “They came out prepared and they made it difficult for us so we had to play hard and when we got that third goal it put the game away.”

Hunt’s goal came from a header off a throw in from senior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.), who collected an assist along with Tulloch.

Tulloch’s first goal was a cross shot over the box into the far left corner of the net. Senior Spencer Scott (Palm City, Fla.) collected the assist.

Belmont’s (1-2) Brandon Tarr scored the lone goal for the Bruins in the 80th minute to bring the score to 2-1.

Tulloch’s second goal came in the 82nd minute as he tripped up the Belmont goalkeeper for an easy tap in. The Knights outshot the Bruins 22-14, and had the advantage in corner kicks 7-3.

“From the coaching staff, to the trainers and down to the guys on the field we all want to win and we all strive for perfection,” Cunningham added. “It’s fun to watch how intense they are in training and in everything we do and it pays off.”

Junior goalkeeper Shawn Doyle played 90 minutes for UCF and put aside five shots.

“When I had my meeting with Mr. Tribble last December, we were coming off a bad year, but I really thought this would be the year that we were going to turn the corner,” said Cunningham, who is in his fourth season at UCF. “My first (recruiting class), they’re now all juniors and coming into their own. They know the system and they’re teaching it to the younger players. Slowly but surely, they’re building this to where we want it to be – a Top 25 team.”

UCF’s season-long transformation comes full circle on Thursday at 5 p.m. when the Knights (11-4-3) hosts in-state rival USF (9-5-4). The two teams didn’t play this season, but the Bulls did beat UCF, 2-1, last season. Cunningham is confident that the Knights will be ready after playing a league schedule that included four Conference USA squads that qualified for the NCAA tournament.

“In Conference USA, you play a lot of good teams. I think we finished with six teams in the top 60 in the RPI and four teams in the top 30,” Cunningham said. “So I think we’re ready for the challenges that await us. Playing those teams and winning some of those games and getting some results helped us big time.”

UCF went into the Conference USA Tournament last week as the second seed, but lost, 2-1, to Tulsa. The Knights then had to await their fate in the NCAA Tournament, hoping for an at-large bid. And on the nationally televised Selection Show, the Knights were one of the final four teams announced, heightening the tension for the team.

The Knights not only got in, but they also earned a home game date against the rival Bulls. And if they win, they will play on the road against the No. 10 University of Michigan on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“It says a lot about the season that we had and also the respect for Conference USA. We placed four teams in the NCAA Tournament and all four teams will be playing at home in the first or second round, which is great,” Cunningham said. “It’s the first time we’ve hosted and the first time we’ve received an at-large bid. So give all of the credit to the players and the assistant coaches for pushing everything all together this year. We’ve talked about one game at a time and it’s all paying off right now.”

UCF got to this point because of the dynamic playmaking of forward Nik Robson (nine goals, nine assists and 27 points) and the passing of Spencer Scott (eight assists) and a stingy defense that allowed just three goals at home all season. For the season, the Knights outscored foes 37-16 and were the lone team in the regular season to beat fifth-seeded SMU.

The combination of senior leadership provided by Yaron Bacher, Camilo Rendon and Josh Andone combined with the youth of Robson (sophomore), Scott (junior), Kevn George (junior), Cameron Cooksey (junior) and Warren Creavalle (junior) have given the Knights the right mix to author their most special season ever.

“We always believed in the players and what we were capable of. And we knew the caliber of the kids that we were bringing in to the team for this year,” Cunningham said. “We really felt like we were about to turn a corner and be writing some history, which we are doing this year.”

The win keeps the Knights unbeaten in Conference USA play at 2-0 and 6-2 overall, while the loss drops the previously unbeaten Mustangs to 1-1 in league play and 9-1 overall.

With exactly 25 minutes remaining in the game, Scott corralled a pass from sophomore A.J. Nelson (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) at midfield and sprinted toward goal. From 20 yards out, Scott fired a hard, high shot that found its way into the top right corner. SMU goalkeeper Craig Hill dove to his left, deflecting the ball with his hand, but the power behind Scott’s drive was too much for the Mustangs’ keeper to stop.

“It’s my mom’s birthday today, so when I scored I just wanted to get over to where she was and tell her that was her present,” Scott said. “That was one of the biggest goals of my playing career and that was the biggest win we have since I’ve been here.”

“It’s a big win for the program,” head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “From start to finish, the players executed the game plan perfectly other than the one beautiful goal they (SMU) scored. Having such a large and supportive crowd behind us the whole game was unbelievable. The fans were really great tonight for us.”

Sophomore Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) scored his seventh goal of the season with a brilliant move around the Mustang defense in the 11th minute for the game’s opening tally. Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.) beat a defender just inside midfield and put a touch pass to his left to the sprinting Robson. The second-year Knight made a quick move to his right, turning the SMU defender around, and put a low show inside the far post to make it 1-0 for the Black and Gold.

Robson has now scored in each of the last three games and ranks among the nation’s best point-producing players this season.

SMU tied the game in the 26th minute on Jusue Soto’s third goal of the year. Positioned near the goal line to the left of the UCF goal, Robbie Derschang put a pass on the foot of Soto at the top of the penalty box. Soto fired a shot to the upper right corner for the equalizer and sent the teams into halftime tied, 1-1.

Scott’s goal was his third of the season, while Nelson collected his first assist of the 2010 campaign on the game winner.

Following Scott’s marker, SMU turned up the intensity, pushing for the goal that would tie the game and keep their unbeaten season alive. Those hopes were dashed by the UCF goalkeeper Shawn Doyle (Ft. Myers, Fla.) in the final minutes of the match.

Doyle recorded three saves in the game and prevented the Mustangs’ last-ditch efforts for the equalizer from happening. However, Doyle received tremendous support in front of him from the Knights’ defense.

Twice in the final seconds, UCF defenders were able to knock the ball out of danger and clear it from the penalty box.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Knights’ bench erupted in celebration with the 2-1 victory. The win was also the first in program history over the Mustangs. UCF had previously been 0-3-2 against SMU entering Friday night’s contest.

“It was a massive step forward winning that game and moving to 2-0 in the conference,” Cunningham added. “As a whole the conference is doing incredibly well this year and to beat a team of SMU’s caliber is a big step for this team and something that I hope will carry over to FIU.”

The Knights return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 5 when they host Florida International at the UCF Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. The game can also be seen live on the Bright House Sports Network.