Oct. 18, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - With just five Conference USA matches remaining in 2007, this weekend will play a huge part in where the UCF women's soccer team finishes in the standings. The Knights will welcome UTEP Friday at 7 p.m. and C-USA affiliate member Colorado College Sunday at noon, as the Black and Gold hopes to improve on a 4-0-0 league record.
UCF has 12 C-USA points to enter the weekend in first place, while UTEP is 3-0-0 for nine points. Colorado College, meanwhile, has a 1-2-0 mark for three points. Overall, the Knights are 9-2-2, including five-straight victories, and 5-0-2 in their last seven matches. They have gone 5-0-2 at home this season and have posted a shutout in all four C-USA games.
A total of 15 different Knights have scored at least one point on the year, with Courtney Whidden (8-2--18) and Yvonne George (6-5--17) leading the way. UCF has almost three times as many points as its opponents (97-34), and leads UTEP (95 points) for first in C-USA. However, the Miners are first in goals scored with 35, three ahead of the Knights.
Each weekend there seems to be a new contributor for UCF, and at Tulsa Oct. 12 and at SMU Oct. 14 it was Danielle Dos Santos. The forward racked up nine points on three goals and three assists to become the C-USA leader in points scored in league games (3-4--10). Dos Santos' performance helped her receive C-USA Offensive Player of the Week and Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week honors.
Jennifer Manis continued her stretch of impressive play, notching her fourth and fifth shutouts of the year last weekend. She was able to lower her goals-against average to 0.96, and her 67 saves are 10th in UCF single-season history. Manis' defense has been very important en route to those shutouts, as Kelsey Kravec, Arielle Orr and Nikki Moore have all played at least 1,000 minutes during the year. Sarah de Leon and Christina Petrucco also are contributing well for the UCF back, a group that is allowing just 6.8 percent of opponents' shots to enter the net.
A win for UTEP (9-4-1 overall) would pull it even with UCF for first place in terms of league points, and the Miners have many different offensive threats. Tameka Sumter is first in C-USA in points (23) and goals (10), and Cortney Casey leads the league in shots (53). Casey also has eight goals and four assists for 20 points. Goalkeeper Jessica Salvi has amassed 80 saves and claims a 1.36 GAA. Similar to UCF, UTEP has posted wins over Tulsa (2-1) and SMU (1-0), while it is coming off a 3-2 win at Colorado College. The Miners are 6-1-1 at home, but 3-3-0 on the road.
CC (6-4-2) is 3-1-0 against common opponents with UCF, defeating Loyola (2-1), Mississippi (2-1) and Tulsa (4-0) and falling to SMU (2-1). The Tigers have outscored their opponents, 18-12, with Emily Beans holding the team lead with six goals and Tiffany Brown right behind her with five tallies. Geneva Sills has seen most of the time in net, and has four shutouts and a 0.99 GAA. With an overall team GAA of 0.95, Colorado College is second only to East Carolina on the C-USA charts (UCF is third with a 0.96 GAA).
In the all-time series, UCF is 0-3-0 vs. UTEP and 2-1-0 against Colorado College.
Admission to all UCF women's soccer matches is free.
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