Nov. 6, 2010
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By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The top two women's soccer programs in Conference USA will clash Sunday when No. 23 and top-seed UCF will face No. 2 seed Memphis in the C-USA Championship finals at 2 p.m. live on CBS College Sports at the UCF Soccer Complex. Both teams have identical 14-3-3 records and are ranked No. 18 and No. 37 in the NCAA RPI report, respectively.
This will be the third trip to the title match for the Knights, and each time they faced the Tigers. Memphis got past UCF, 2-0, in 2007 then defeated the Black and Gold last year, 3-0.
After winning the C-USA regular-season crown for the fourth time in six years in the league, UCF earned a bye into the C-USA semifinals where it shutout SMU, 2-0, Nov. 5. Kim Newsome scored in the third minute and Nicolette Radovcic doubled the lead to 2-0 in the 29th minute. Keeper Aline Reis collected four saves for her fifth shutout of 2010.
The Knights are on a five-match winning streak and have taken at least 20 shots in each of those victories. Meanwhile, Memphis is 7-0-3 in its last 10 outings, including a 1-0 victory over Houston in the semifinals.
UCF boasts the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year in Tishia Jewell, and the Tigers earned two major league awards as defender Lizzy Simonin was voted as the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year and Vendula Strnadova was selected as the C-USA Midfielder of the Year.
The C-USA Championship winner will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Memphis has claimed the tournament trophy the last three years, and both schools have reached the NCAA postseason every season since 2007.