Aug. 13, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - With the field lined, new uniforms ready to get dirty and the goals in place, the UCF women's soccer team started preparing for the 2007 season Monday with day one of preseason practices.
Monday marked the beginning of a very eventful training camp. The Knights' next two weeks will be extremely busy, including a few days where they practice both in the early morning hours and again late at night. Their first exhibition match is scheduled for Aug. 23 against Northern Illinois, while USF also comes to Orlando Aug. 25.
UCF, which finished 2006 with an 11-6-2 record and a 7-1-1 mark in Conference USA, hits the road for the regular-season opener. The Black and Gold travels to the Tennessee Lady Vol Classic, where it meets Minnesota Aug. 31 and Penn State Sept. 2. The first home event for the Knights will be the UCF Invitational Sept. 7 and Sept. 9.
Head coach Amanda Cromwell, who is entering her ninth season with UCF, was pleased with how the day went, and is hoping her team continues to come together before heading to Tennessee at the end of the month.
"The first morning we always start off with an intrasquad scrimmage," said Cromwell. "We play the rookies against the returning players. The newcomers are nervous and not sure what to expect, so it's good for them. More often than not the veterans win and they did again this morning. But a lot of the rookies showed themselves well and as they develop we expect them to fight for some quality minutes on the field.
"Everyone had a great attitude and they are ready to play. A lot of them have been training in small groups or on their own. And our game field is immaculate and one of the best fields in the country, so it was very competitive and an awesome environment. And you can tell that they are ready to develop as a team. The one thing we learned from the past couple of days of meetings is that our senior leadership is very good. There are five seniors that are taking the reigns and they all want to be successful."
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