Nov. 9, 2009
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
NCAA Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
Story Notes
-UCF vs. Milwaukee - Friday - Madison, Wis. (University of Wisconsin will host).
-Winner takes on either Wisconsin or Arizona State Sunday.
-UCF is making its 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament, tied for the 15th most appearances in the country.
-The Knights have been in the NCAA Tournament eight times in 11 years under head coach Amanda Cromwell.
-This is UCF's fourth-straight at-large bid (2004, 2007, 2008, 2009).
-It is also the second time UCF has had to travel to Madison for the NCAA Tournament (1998).
-UCF is 0-3-0 all-time against Milwaukee.
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Watching the selection show at Smokey Bones in Waterford Lakes, the UCF women's soccer team learned Monday night it will be traveling to Madison, Wis., as a No. 3 national seed for the NCAA Tournament this weekend. The Knights will face UW-Milwaukee Friday with the winner to battle either host Wisconsin or Arizona State in the second round.
"We wanted to host, but I understand it's about the cost of flying teams in and the geography of it as there are two teams in Wisconsin that wouldn't have to travel," said 11th year head coach Amanda Cromwell. "So they will fly us and Arizona State in. Obviously we'd love to have three teams come to us but I know it's not cost effective."
There were 16 schools seeded in the 64-team field. The No. 1 seed in UCF's section of the bracket is Stanford, which also is the top overall seed, while No. 2 Boston College and No. 4 Santa Clara round out the seeding.
This marks the 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament for the Knights, which is tied for the 15th most in the country. It also is the third-straight season they made it to the dance, and the fourth-consecutive at-large bid to the postseason (2004, 2007, 2008, 2009).
The Conference USA regular-season champions, UCF claims a 16-4-1 overall record and went 10-1-0 in league play. It took on the second-toughest non-conference schedule in the country and finished with a non-conference RPI of No. 4.
UCF will open the NCAA Tournament on the road for the 10th-consecutive occasion, as the last time the Black and Gold hosted an NCAA match was the 1988 first round (2-0 win over Virginia). Meanwhile, the Knights will be playing in Madison in the postseason for the second time. They took the journey north in 1998 only to fall to Wisconsin in the first round, 2-0.
The Knights have certainly drawn a tough opening-round opponent. Milwaukee (12-5-3) has won 10-straight contests, including a 4-0 win over Valparaiso to claim the Horizon League crown. And all four of those goals were scored by Sarah Hagen, who leads the country in goals with 24.
"We don't know much about them other than (Hagen)," said Cromwell. "We think they will be a big physical team and they have one player that is obviously a go-to player. That could be a good thing because we know who to shut down and we hope our defense will be up to the task."
Game time for the Knights' meeting with the Panthers will be announced soon.
UCF has never defeated Milwaukee, going 0-3-0 vs. the Panthers. The Knights, meanwhile, are 0-1-0 against Arizona State and 1-2-1 vs. Wisconsin.
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, and become a follow of the Knights at Twitter.com.