“I’m just proud of our players to be able to bounce back from a tough loss the other night against Charlotte. They came out tonight and showed a lot of character to get a nice win on the road,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “We had a number of guys who found the back of the net, which is good, and more importantly we earned our first shutout of the season, and hopefully that’s a good step in the right direction. Now, all of our attention is on the start of conference play against FIU on Wednesday night.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ wasted no time striking first in the 7-minute mark when Deshorn Brown rebounded from a scrum in the box to put one past North Florida’s diving keeper. Brown has now scored a goal for five-consecutive games and boasts a team-high seven goals this year.

The Knights snuck in one more goal just before the half ended when McKauly Tulloch took a shot on a breakaway that was saved by Kyle Nasta, but Tulloch was able to recover the deflection and finished on an open net from six yards away.

Following the break, Romario Williams scored his first goal of the season to increase Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s edge to 3-0 in the 53rd minute.

The Knights capped off the night with one final goal in the 71st minute. Jeff Michaud nearly scored when he dribbled through the Osprey defense but his shot hit the post. Malcolm Reed rebounded the attempt and finished on the open net, giving Michaud the assist.

The contest with the Ospreys served as Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s final non-league match of the year. The Knights will open Conference USA play Wednesday, hosting FIU at 7 p.m. at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Soccer Complex.

Wednesday’s game versus FIU will be the first of four home league contests for the Knights.

Junior Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) gave Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 1-0 edge with a goal at the 32-minute mark. Two minutes later, junior Eduardo Jimenez (San Juan, Puerto Rico) scored. Sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica), who leads the country in points per game, scored twice in the second half and now has 12 goals in only eight matches this season.

With the triumph, the Knights snapped a three-match winning streak for the Mustangs (5-1, 0-1). SMU was coming off a 2-1 victory at No. 18 UCLA.

“SMU is a first-class team. Tonight we knew that we would need a quick start,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “We were able to go up 2-0 and that got us going for the rest of the match.”

The contest was the second this week against a ranked opponent for the Knights. On Wednesday, host Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ opened C-USA play with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Kentucky. The Wildcats are ranked 21st nationally by the NSCAA. SMU is listed at No. 21 in the Soccer America poll.

Robson put Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ on the board in the first half after he corralled a rebound and scored from six yards out. Just over two minutes later, Tulloch crossed the ball over to Jimenez who beat SMU goalkeeper Jamie Ibarra.

Tulloch’s first goal came at the 55-minute mark from eight yards out and was assisted by senior Warren Creavalle (Acworth, Ga.). He added another score 14 minutes later off a feed from senior Kevan George (Roxborough, Trinidad).

The win over SMU was the second-straight for the Knights, who posted a 2-1 victory over the fifth-ranked Mustangs last year in Orlando. Playing SMU for the fourth time in on the road, the Knights picked up their first win in Dallas Saturday.

“Playing at SMU is never easy,” Cunningham said. “It is extremely difficult for a road team to win at SMU. I am very proud of our players. They took advantage of chances. This was a great win.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ improved to 4-0-1 away from home this season.

Junior Shawn Doyle (Fort Myers, Fla.) totaled six saves in the win. SMU got goals from Ben Hill at the 42-minute mark and Damian Rosales with 17 minutes to play.

Eight Knights each logged 90 minutes in the contest.

The match, which featured a 70-minute lightning and rain delay, ended when Creavalle knocked the ball into the left corner of the goal after securing a corner kick from junior Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand). The Knights went down 1-0 early, but played with more energy following the weather delay.

“I’m so proud of my team tonight,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “I don’t know who we were in the first 30 minutes of that game, but we came out after the rain delay a totally different team. I challenged them to be the team that we are capable of being.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ tied the match at 1-1 at the 38:24 mark when sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica) slipped past the lone defender back for the Wildcats and scored past Tyler Beadle. Creavalle and senior Kevan George (Roxborough, Trinidad) assisted on the goal, which was the 10th of the season for Tulloch, who leads the nation in points per game.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ finished with a 19-12 shot advantage and took eight corner kicks during the match. Kentucky entered the contest tied for first in the nation with 25 total goals, but the Wildcats’ scoring opportunities were limited by Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s defense.

Kentucky grabbed a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the opening half when Tyler Riggs tapped the ball into the open goal after Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s goalkeeper, junior Shawn Doyle (Fort Myers, Fla.), slipped on the wet field.

The contest was the first of eight league matches this year for the Knights.

“It’s huge,” Creavalle said of starting off C-USA play with a victory. “We started off with a win like that last year and it really set us up for the rest of the season.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ had several good scoring opportunities late in the match, and almost ended the contest in regulation when senior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.) found sophomore Steven Lamberta (Temecula Valley, Calif.) in the box for a header that went just left of the goal with two minutes to play. Tulloch setup Creavalle with a great pass with seven minutes to go, but the senior was whistled for offsides before he booted the ball into the goal past Beadle.

The physical contest featured 38 total fouls and three yellow cards.

Tulloch attempted six shots in the winning effort, and Creavalle had three shots. Doyle recorded four saves as he picked up his sixth win of the year.

As a result of Sunday’s big win, the Knights have matched the 1997 and 2001 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ squads for the best start in school history at the Division I level.

The Knights, who outshot Mercer (1-3-1) 17-8 during the match, led 2-0 at halftime after a pair of goals from sophomore McKauly Tulloch (Kingston, Jamaica). The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ advantage grew to 4-0 nine minutes into the second half after junior Nik Robson (Auckland, New Zealand) and senior Cameron Cooksey (Marietta, Ga.) both scored within a minute.

“I was really happy with our player’s attitude,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Bryan Cunningham said. “We were playing on the road and our approach was very professional. We were ready to go at the opening whistle, and never looked back.”

Tulloch, who scored on a quick turnaround shot from 20 yards out 15 minutes into the match and then beat Mercer goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh on a breakaway setup by Robson with 40:54 on the clock, recorded six shots and also assisted on Cooksey’s goal. The Knights were aggressive from the start as Tulloch had a pair of shots on goal the first five minutes of the match. Later, his two goals brought his total on the year to eight in only five matches.

Robson opened the scoring in the second half by getting past Ranjitsingh on a penalty kick at the 48:43 mark. Less than one minute later, Tulloch took a shot and Cooksey scored off the rebound.

Three minutes after the Bears got on the board with a Ehjayson Henry goal, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ junior Luiz Yamashita (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored from inside the box, assisted by Cooksey and senior Kevan George (Decatur, Ga.).

Nineteen Knights saw action against the Bears.

“We were good going forward today. A lot of players got involved,” Cunningham said. “It was good to see us finish our chances. We were able to get every player minutes today. That will help us in the long run.”

Junior Shawn Doyle (Fort Myers, Fla.) logged just over 71 minutes in the winning effort and posted one save before sophomore Will Hectico (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) entered the contest.

Junior Ben Hunt (Auckland, New Zealand) scored the Knights’ opening goal in the 37th minute. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 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 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and put aside five shots.