ORLANDO – Fresh off a 5-0 shutout victory in its 2024 Big 12 Conference opener, the UCF women’s soccer team will continue Big 12 play with a road match at Iowa State on Thursday.
Thursday’s contest is set for a 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT start at ISU’s Cyclone Sports Complex. The match will air live on ESPN+ and live state can also be followed by visiting UCF.Statbroadcast.com. It will mark the first of two conference games on the week for the Black and Gold, as the Knights will return to Orlando following Thursday’s match to host Big 12 newcomer Arizona State on Sunday at noon.
The Black and Gold will enter Thursday with a 3-1-2 overall record and a 1-0-0 conference clip after shutting out Houston in their Big 12 opener last Thursday at the UCF Soccer Complex. The Knights are currently receiving votes for this week’s United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll and have won two of their last three matches.
Senior Chloe Netzel led the way for the Black and Gold in the contest by recording her third brace of the season to give her a team-leading eight goals on the year. Netzel started the scoring in the eighth minute by converting on a penalty kick to give the Knights an early 1-0 lead. She later capped the scoring with her second goal of the contest in the 71st minute as she struck the ball hard enough from the top of the 18 to still score off a deflection.
Taylor Jacobson, Edidiong Etim and Mia Asenjo all also found the back of the net against the Cougars. The senior defender Jacobson scored her first career goal in the 22nd minute, as Annika Huhta played a corner kick into the box and Jacobson was there to drill it home. In the 37th minute, Kyleigh Thelen fed a cross into the box off a free kick and the freshman Etim was able to head it home for her second goal of the year. In the 65th minute, Etim later raced a ball down the right side and crossed it into the center of the box to a streaking Asenjo who was there to tap it home for her first goal of the year.
Sami Lipcon and Genesis Perez Watson combined for the clean sheet in goal for the Knights, as the two played a half apiece and Perez Watson stopped a pair of shots on frame in the second half.
The shutout marked UCF’s second of the season and its fourth in the Big 12 era, as the Black and Gold managed to record a trio of clean sheets in conference play last season.
NETZEL’S HOT START
The senior Netzel leads the Knights in goals (8), points (17), game-winning goals (2), shots (30), and shots on goal (19). She has also recorded a trio of braces on the season and has scored in five of UCF’s six games. Netzel will enter Thursday as the nation’s leader in goals per game with an impressive average of 1.33. She also ranks third nationally in points per game (2.83) and shots on goal per game (3.17), as well as sixth in shots per game (5.0), seventh in total goals (8), and 12th in total points (17). Huhta and Emily Thompson pace the team in assists with three apiece, while the freshman Lipcon leads the way in goal with 27 saves.
JACOBSON TABBED BIG 12 CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior defender Taylor Jacobson was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after helping UCF record the 5-0 shutout over Houston in last week’s conference opener. Besides being key in limiting UH to just two shots on goal in the contest, Jacobson also scored her first collegiate goal in the match as she found the back of the net in the 22nd minute off a corner kick. The conference honor marks the first of Jacobson's career and UCF’s second of the season, as Jada Silvest previously earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week accolades on Sept. 4.
ROAD CONFERENCE OPENERS UNDER ROBERTS SAHAYDAK
Thursday will mark Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak’s 12th road conference opener at UCF. She’ll enter the match with a 5-2-4 record in road conference openers and having lost just one road conference opener over the past eight seasons, which includes a 1-0 shutout victory at Houston last season.
ABOUT IOWA STATE
The Cyclones will enter Thursday with a 3-4-2 record. They are 1-0-0 in conference play, having earned a 1-0 victory over Kanas last Thursday. They then dropped a 3-0 contest against No. 17 Iowa in their last match.
Iowa State went 6-11-1 last season and 3-7-0 in conference play, good enough for 11th in the Big 12. ISU failed to make the 2023 Big 12 Championship. The Cyclones were projected to finish 15th in the 2024 Big 12 Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
Morgan Furmaniak leads the Cyclones with four goals on the season while Magdalena Keck’s three assists are the most on the team.
Iowa State is led by fifth-year head coach Matt Fannon.
ALL-TIME VS. IOWA STATE
Thursday’s match will mark the first-ever meeting between the Knights and Cyclones.
FRANKE AND PEREZ WATSON RECENTLY RETURNED FROM 2024 FIFA U20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
UCF had a pair of players represent their home nations at the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup that ran Aug. 31-Sept. 22 in Colombia. Freshman defender Guta Franke played for her home country of Brazil, while redshirt freshman goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson participated for Costa Rica. Franke started all five games for Brazil and helped her home nation go 4-1 and advance to the quarterfinal round, while Perez Watson started all three matches in goal and was a captain for Costa Rica.
UP NEXT FOR UCF
Following Thursday’s action, the Black and Gold will return home to host Big 12 newcomer Arizona State on Sunday at noon. Next week, UCF will return to the road to take on Kansas on Thursday (Sept. 26) and Kansas State on Sunday (Sept. 29). The Knights will cap a three-match road swing at West Virginia on Friday, Oct. 4.