ORLANDO -- USF's fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament was a short one, as the Bulls were beaten soundly in the opening round, losing 3-0 to Central Florida on Thursday night.

"We picked a bad day to have a bad day," said USF coach George Kiefer, whose team played for the first time in 15 days. "Going into the game, looking at their personnel and our personnel, I felt good about the game. We didn't look sharp today. Clearly not playing in 15 days has an impact."

UCF (12-4-3) opened the scoring on a header by Ben Hunt in the 35th minute, but the key goal came with 57 seconds left in the first half, when Nik Robson scored his 10th goal of the season on a penalty kick.

"I think one of the turning points was giving up a goal with a minute to go in the first half to go down 2-0," Kiefer said.

USF (9-6-4) lost Marius Krathe to a red card after a foul in the 65th minute, and UCF converted the foul just outside the penalty box into a goal by Yaron Bacher. Senior goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, a Countryside graduate, took the loss, giving up more than two goals for only the second time this season.

The Knights travel to face 10th-seeded Michigan on Sunday.