ORLANDO - UC Riverside played the back end of an early season Florida trip on Monday with a 3-0 defeat to Central Florida from the UCF Soccer Complex. 

Freymar Omarsson made his return to the starting XI on Monday after his season debut at Jacksonville on Saturday, logging 54 minutes in the Labor Day matchup. Aleksander Vukovic made his third straight start with one shot in a full 90, while Issa Badawiya fired off a career-high five shots with two being on frame. 

UCR saw a second straight early goal, but it was the hosts finding the back of the net this time with Central Florida opening the scoring in the sixth minute. After being held off the stat sheet for nearly the game's first 10 minutes, the Highlanders kicked it into gear with five shots in the next 10 minutes, four of which came off the foot of Badawiya. 

UCR earned seven of their 11 shots and four of their five corner kicks in the first half.

The Highlanders had a chance to level the match close to halftime, streaking down the midfield and ending the sequence with two more shots from Badawiya. UCF almost doubled the lead three minutes before the halftime whistle with a ball that was played into the middle but ricocheted off the right post. 

Carlos Gonzalez thwarted UCF's creative weaving through the 18 a minute later, pushing a shot past the right post to keep the game at 1-0. Oscar Penate evaded a defender down the right side with under a minute to go and put the ball into the middle of the attacking third, but UCR would not capitalize. 

UC Riverside would once again be caught off guard early with a second Knights goal just three minutes into the second half. Leopoldo Hernandez took a short corner shortly after and the Highlanders worked the ball into the box, but Vukovic's shot skied over the bar.

Brendan Clark flew down the left side at the 85-minute mark and whipped the ball into the box, but Central Florida's keeper was right there for the save. Noah Lopez calmly beat a defender and played into the box, but a curled shot went right to the keeper. 

The Highlanders logged 11 shots all together, the third time this season UCR has logged at least 10 attempts. 

UC Riverside will return to the Inland Empire on Friday, September 9 to take on its third straight Florida opponent in Stetson. All UC Riverside men's soccer games are free for the 2022 season, and live stats are available on the men's soccer schedule on GoHighlaners.com.