Nov. 3, 2012
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By Jenna Marina
UCFAthletics.com
EL PASO, Texas (UCFAthletics.com) - The No. 20 UCF women's soccer team clinched a berth to the Conference USA Tournament championship game with its 2-0 win over seventh-seeded SMU on Friday night at University Field. With the victory, the Knights (16-4-1) claimed the school record for shutouts (14) and advanced to the title game for the fourth time since joining C-USA in 2005.
"We take a lot of pride in the record just because we work so hard as a defense," junior defender Ashley Nicol said. "I feel like we're on a roll."
The Knights will face Tulsa, who topped regular season champion Colorado College in penalty kicks, on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET in a match televised on CBS Sports Network.
Despite a scoreless first half, UCF controlled much of the possession with 10 shots to SMU's one. Forward Nicolette Radovcic nearly put the Knights on the board in the first five minutes when she received a header from Tishia Jewell by the right post, but SMU's keeper pushed the shot over the crossbar.
The second half was much of the same as UCF relentlessly attacked the net looking for a score. In the first 10 minutes, defender Marissa Diggs sent a cross from the right and midfielder Madison Barney had an open look at the net but her attempt went high right.
Midfielder Andrea Rodrigues shot a laser from the left side but SMU's keeper caught the ball just under her chin to keep the game scoreless with 27 minutes to play.
The Knights finally broke through in the 64th minute when Nicol threw in a ball to Jewell in the right corner of the field. Jewell crossed a ball into Kristina Trujic, who took one touch and fired to the top left post for her sixth goal and first game-winner of the year.
With the assist, Jewell tallied the 36th of her career to surpass Cally Howell (1997-00) for the program's all-time record.
Trujic sealed the game on a high note with 49 seconds remaining when she notched her first multi-goal game of the season off a one-on-one look at the net thanks to an assist from Radovcic.
The Knights enter Sunday's match riding a six-match shutout-win streak as they look to claim their first Conference USA Tournament title. UCF beat Tulsa on Oct. 5 at home in a 2-0 decision.
"We're going to come out with the same mindset as we had the past two games. We want the championship really bad, so we're going to come out fighting," Nicol said.