Oct. 30, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Ranked in the top 25 once again this week, the No. 22 UCF women's soccer team stays on the road to complete the regular season with a match-up against Southern Miss Friday at 4 p.m. ET. The Knights sit in third place in the Conference USA standings, but only two points behind league leaders East Carolina and Memphis.
The eight-team field is already set for the C-USA Championship at Rice Nov. 5-9, however the only school that knows what seed it will be is SMU, who owns the eighth spot. UCF, which shared the regular-season title with Memphis a year ago, has 20 points thanks to a 6-2-2 record (11-4-3 overall), while the Tigers (7-2-1) and ECU (6-0-4) both have 22 points. Memphis plays Thursday night at UAB, and the Pirates take on Marshall at home at 3 p.m.
Led by goalkeeper and reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Week Aline Reis, the Knights have shut out their last three opponents and now have eight shutouts on the year. Five different student-athletes have at least four goals, with junior Courtney Whidden pacing the offense with five tallies. Classmate Yvonne George leads UCF in points with 4-7--15 totals.
Southern Miss enters the weekend at 5-11-1 overall and 1-8-0 in C-USA, which is on the outside looking in for the postseason. It has suffered seven-straight losses while scoring two goals over that span. However, the Golden Eagles opened 2008 with three-consecutive victories, defeating South Alabama, Northwestern State and Arkansas-Little Rock. Individually, Sarah McFadden ranks first on the team with eight points, and Holly Cox has three shutouts and 70 saves in net.
UCF claims a 3-0-0 lead in the all-time series, with the first two decisions only one-goal margins.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.