Oct. 3, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The first nine matches are in the books for the UCF women's soccer team this year, and now the Knights prepare to open the Conference USA schedule at home this weekend. UCF (5-2-2) kicks off the league slate by facing Marshall Friday at 7 p.m., then welcomes East Carolina to town Sunday at 1 p.m. All home soccer matches, which are held at the UCF Soccer Complex on campus, are free to the public.
In its first two campaigns in C-USA, UCF has a combined 15-2-1 league record as it finished at 7-1-1 in 2006. UCF has a winning record in all 14 seasons that it has been affiliated with a conference, and the only time it lost more than two league matches was in 1996 when the Knights went 6-3-1. That year, UCF still went on to win the Atlantic Sun Tournament.
Currently in a five-game homestand, the Knights are 3-0-2 on their home surface with the two ties coming against in-state rivals No. 11 Florida State and Miami (Fla.). They are coming off a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Loyola (Md.) Sept. 28, where sophomore Brianna Schooley scored in the 69th and the 89th minutes. Her efforts helped her receive the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award. She became the fourth different Knight to earn the weekly accolade in 2007 (Yvonne George, Kelsey Kravec, Courtney Whidden).
Whidden continues to lead UCF with seven goals for 14 points this season. She also has added two game-winners and a game-tying goal. George and sophomore Becca Thomas follow close behind with 10 points apiece. In net, senior Jennifer Manis has made 47 saves while playing all 836:14 minutes as the UCF keeper.
With a 3-6-0 record, Marshall has posted victories over Saint Peter's, Delaware State and Georgia Southern, but is riding a two-game losing streak after falling to South Carolina and Radford. The Thundering Herd has outscored opponents 7-5 in the first half in 2007, although it has an 8-4 deficit after halftime. Senior Kassie Hollman owns the team lead with seven points on two goals and three assists, while sophomore keeper Liz Orton has a 1.46 goals-against average in 740:00 minutes of work.
For East Carolina, the Pirates are on a seven game undefeated streak, going 5-0-2 since suffering their only loss to Charlotte Sept. 2. During this stretch, ECU has not given up a goal, as the last time an opponent hit the net was Charlotte in the 63rd minute. With a 6-1-2 overall record, ECU has surrendered just three goals total in 2007 and has posted wins over High Point, Old Dominion, Furman, Campbell, UNC-Wilmington and Francis Marion. Offensively, junior Blair Heffner and sophomore Amy Szilard sit atop the ECU stat chart with three goals each. Meanwhile, junior Amber Campbell has played all 868:34 minutes in net, boasting seven shutouts and a .929 save percentage.
UCF has never lost to either program, holding a 2-0-0 mark vs. Marshall and a 2-0-1 record against ECU.
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