On the Docket

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – UCF head coach Becky Cramer released the Knights 2016-17 slate on Monday afternoon. The schedule features a pair of home regattas on March 17 and April 29.
 
"We are very excited about this schedule," Cramer said. "We have a lot of opportunities to compete against several quality programs. Our squad will be going up against 16 of the Top 20 crews from last year. All the venues that we are racing in are first class."
 
The Knights start fall competition at the Princeton Chase on Oct. 30. The race will be held on Lake Carnegie in New Jersey.
 
A scrimmage against the Hurricanes rounds out the fall on Nov. 4 at Miami.
 
UCF begins the spring with its 20th-consecutive appearance in the Metro Cup on March 4. The annual Winter Park event takes place on Lake Maitland.
 
The Knights will host a regatta March 17 on Lake Pickett with UConn, Jacksonville and Nova Southeastern coming to Orlando.
 
After heading to the Longhorn Invitational on March 25, UCF returns home for the Sunshine State Invitational on March 31-April 1 in Sarasota. The regatta at Nathan Benderson Park provides the competing teams an opportunity to race on the 2018 NCAA Championship course. UCF also serves as the host for that event on May 7-18, 2018 in Sarasota.
 
"We trained in Sarasota a couple years ago," Cramer said. "The venue is phenomenal and a couple months after we race on the course, it will be hosting the 2017 World Championships. Our student-athletes have an opportunity to race on an international-caliber course in front of family and friends in their home state."
 
Next on the docket for the Knights is a cross-county trip to Sacramento, Calif., for the Lake Natoma Invitational. UCF is familiar with the course, having raced in the last two NCAA Championships and winning the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship.
 
Following the Clemson Invitational on April 22-23, UCF welcomes Miami for a meet on Lake Pickett. The all-day event is set for April 29 and is the final tune-up for the Knights before the postseason.

The site for the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship has yet to be announced by the league office.
 
Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. is once again the site of the NCAA Championships (5/26-28). The Knights finished runner-up in the inaugural American Championship on Mercer Lake, before capturing the program's first conference championship in 2015.