ORLANDO – The UCF women's soccer team accomplished multiple missions tonight, grabbing another three points, a spot in the American Athletic Conference postseason and a 1-0 victory over East Carolina on Thursday night at the UCF Soccer Complex.
"I'm always happy to come away with a win even though my chest was pretty tight there towards the end," Coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak said on the close victory over the Pirates. "ECU's a tough team to break down, they sat in a mid/low block, I think it frustrated us in the first half but in the second half we figured it out and had better possession and ultimately came out with the win."
Looking to get ahead early, the Knights put pressure on the ECU backline immediately. In the fifth minute, Kristen Scott played a pass back to Olivia Lewis five yards out of the box, Lewis immediately took a go and scored a wonder of a goal, placing it perfectly in the top right past the Pirates keeper.
The shot from outer space is Lewis's first-ever goal with the Knights in her fourth season in Orlando. The defender notched her second-ever point following an assist in her first season in 2019.
The fastest goal of UCF's season gave the team an early advantage, which it kept through the rest of the first half.
The Black and Gold took control of the ball in the opening stages of the second 45, continuing the physical battle with the Pirates. Eight minutes in, the Knights got close to grabbing a second, as shots by Mallory Olsson and Sanja Homann were pushed away.
After Caroline DeLisle, who picked up her 24th clean sheet of her career, and the backline kept the ECU pressure at bay, the Knights got close yet again to sealing the match. A Dayana Martin shot was pushed out for a corner, leading to a Darya Rajaee chance that also got saved, the ball rebounded to Martin but couldn't put into the back of the net.
After a hectic last ten, the final whistle blew, giving UCF its fifth consecutive conference win, outscoring opponents 11-2 in that stretch. The defense had been solid, only allowing two goals against Tulsa in their six conference matches.
The Knights stay atop the Conference standing and at home, welcoming Houston to Orlando on Sunday Afternoon at 1:00 p.m. With a win and a South Florida loss to Cincinnati, the Knights clinch the regular season title outright. A win and a USF draw would mean the squad clinches a share of the regular season title, needing just a draw in Tampa in the War on I-4 to secure the title outright.
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