Oct. 7, 2012
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By Jenna Marina
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The No. 8 UCF women's soccer team saw its seven-game winning streak at the UCF Soccer Complex snap on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to SMU. Despite a second-half rally, the Knights (10-3-1, 4-2) couldn't pull off some last-minute heroics to prevent the Mustangs (6-6-2, 2-2-2) from nabbing their first conference road win of the season.
SMU went on the board first in the 17th minute when Mallory Baum's corner kick found Olivia Elliott in a scrum in front of UCF's net. Elliott snuck the ball past Lianne Maldonado for fourth goal of the season.
"We didn't really respond after they scored and usually that's been our thing. When someone scores on us, we'll go back down and we'll get one right away," UCF head coach Amanda Cromwell said. "It was a weird vibe out there in the first half. We put players out there to try to get some energy going but there wasn't a whole lot going on. [We had] 13 shots in the second half compared to the five in the first half, so that tells you a little story about the halves."
Rikki Clarke added an insurance goal for the Mustangs in the 54th minute off a double-assist from Shelby Redman and Baum. UCF keeper Connie Organ came out to meet Clarke, but Clarke sent the ball to the far post before Organ could get a hand on it.
UCF furiously tried to score and broke through just before the 82nd minute when a ball was cleared from in front of the SMU net to Sophie Howard, who was waiting at the top of the box and fired in her second goal of the year.
The Knights tallied the most corner kicks a UCF squad has drawn in a match in five years, and had a prime opportunity to knot the game with 10 seconds remaining off their 14th and final corner kick of the day.
Tishia Jewell sent a ball into the box that Alex Piercy headed forward to Madison Barney. Barney's header looked like it was headed for the back left corner of the net before SMU's keeper Lauryn Bodden jumped to snatch the ball and hold on for the Mustangs' win.
The Knights hit the road Friday to face Colorado College at 6 p.m. EDT before traveling to UTEP on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT.
UCF's soccer scarf is now available for a discounted price of $15 and includes entry to the remaining home games. The Gold Pass, which includes season tickets to all volleyball, men's and women's soccer, women's basketball, softball and track and field contests, is also available now. For more information and to place an order, call the UCF Ticket Office at (407) UCF-1000 or visit UCFAthletics.com.