Oct. 21, 2011
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By Jenna Marina
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF women's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to eight games on Friday night with a 1-0 win over UAB at the UCF Soccer Complex. The Knights picked up their 10th win of the year, marking the 11th-straight year that UCF has produced a double-digit win season.
The Knights (10-2-5, 5-1-3 Conference USA) dominated offensively in the first half with six shots on goal to UAB's one. Nicolette Radovcic (Rockaway, N.J.) set the tone early five minutes into the game when she broke away for a one-on-one with UAB (5-10-1, 2-5-1) goalkeeper CJ Winship, but her shot sailed wide left.
Radovcic nearly scored again when she rebounded the ball off the left post but she could not cleanly head the ball back toward the net.
The Knights got on the scoreboard at the 21-minute mark when Stacie Hubbard (Satellite Beach, Fla.) forwarded the ball inside the box to Radovcic, who dished it back to Hubbard, which allowed the senior midfielder to strike from 30 yards out just below the crossbar over the outstretched UAB keeper.
Although the Knights would force Winship to come up with two more saves, the first-half goal proved to be all the Knights would need to clinch their fifth-straight shutout. Head Coach Amanda Cromwell was pleased with the defensive effort.
"Aline [Reis] is playing great and our defensive backs are playing really well," Cromwell said. "Getting the results like this, it's obviously a good result. But we're getting toward the end of the season so we need to get more consistent in our play and how we're approaching each game."
UCF's three seniors -Reis, Hubbard and Katie Jackson - were honored before the game in an on-field ceremony to recognize their outstanding careers, which have included three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Up next, the Knights host undefeated No. 5 Memphis on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Tigers posted a 3-0 victory over Southern Miss Friday.
"The girls are looking forward to Memphis for sure," Cromwell said. "They are our rival in the conference and ranked in the top 10 right now. It's kind of hard not to be looking forward to that game."