LOS ANGELES – The 2022 UCF women's soccer campaign came to a heartbreaking end on Friday night when they earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against No. 1 UCLA but fell in PKs 3-0.
Dayana Martin got the scoring going with an amazing goal in the 35th minute that seemed to bend around the UCLA goalkeeper's outstretched hand.
The Bruins would respond almost immediately, though. In the 38th minute, Jackie Gilday found the equalizer off of a corner kick.
The teams would go into halftime knotted at one apiece.
The story of much of the match was Caroline DeLisle's stellar performance. She set a new season high with nine saves on the night. She kept UCF in the match despite an onslaught of UCLA pressure.
UCLA had 27 shots in total, 10 of which were on goal, and the Knights managed 16, with seven being on goal.
The Knights took the number one team in the nation to the brink but would come up just short in PKs.
There is a lot to be proud of for this team. They posted a 9-2-7 record en route to a regular season American Athletic Conference Championship. Two losses is the fewest amount in a season since 2017, when they also only had two losses. They had the offensive player of the year, goalkeeper of the year, and coaching staff of the year in the AAC, and they made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.
The season may have ended, but the story of the 2022 UCF women's soccer team will live on forever.