ORLANDO – The UCF women’s soccer team will return to action on Friday when the team travels to Morgantown to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Big 12 Conference match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET at WVU’s Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The game will air live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available by visiting UCF.Statbroadcast.com.
The 3-2-4 Knights are coming into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw on the road against Kansas State this past Sunday. The result made the Black and Gold’s conference record 1-1-2.
The Knights’ path to earning a point on the road did not come easy. Down their top goal scorer Chloe Netzel, who missed the game due to an injury, and having given up a goal a few minutes before halftime, UCF was 20 minutes away from suffering a loss. However, in the 71st minute redshirt junior Mia Asenjo found the back of the net to even the score.
Freshman goalkeeper Sami Lipcon served as the Knights anchor. She made five saves to keep the Knights in the game. Senior defender Taylor Jacobson also had a key play in the match by making a clutch team save on a shot early in the contest.
The draw against Kansas State served as a bounce back for the Black and Gold, who in their previous match suffered a tough 4-0 setback to Kansas.
NETZEL’S HOT START
Senior Chole Netzel will look to continue her hot start to the season. Netzel leads the Knights in goals (8), points (17), game-winning goals (2), shots (41), and shots on goal (24). She has also recorded a trio of braces on the season. In her last match against Kansas, she recorded a team-leading 3 shots. Her eight goals have her tied for fifth most goals in the country. Nationally, Netzel is also tied for second in both goals per game average (1.00) and shots on goal per game (3.00), is also fourth in shots per game (5.12), and fifth in points per game average (2.13). With an assist on Sunday, sophomore Honoka Hamano leads the Knights in assists with four and ranks 18th in the nation in assists per game (0.57).
ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia currently has a record of 8-2-2 and is tied for first place in the Big 12 standings with a 4-0-1 conference record. WVU is coming into the contest with an eight-match unbeaten streak. West Virginia holds conference wins over Arizona State, Kansas, Kansas State and Cincinatti, and most recently drew at Arizona last Sunday. The Mountaineers went 7-8-4 last season and 5-3-2 in conference play to finish fifth in the Big 12. The team was picked to finish seventh in the 2024 Big 12 Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
Ajanae Respass leads the Mountaineers in goals with six and points with 16. Respass and Lilly McCarthy are tied for the team lead in assists with four. AJ Rodriguez was named to the Big 12 preseason team.
West Virginia is led by Nikki Izzo-Brown, who has been the team’s head coach since 1995.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. WEST VIRGINIA
Friday’s match will be the fourth meeting between the Knights and Mountaineers. WVU holds a slight 2-1 series advantage. The last meeting between UCF and West Virginia came last season, with the Black and Gold picking up a 4-2 win at home in the program’s inaugural Big 12 Conference match.
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.
END OF A LONG STRETCH AWAY FROM HOME
The match against West Virginia will be the final match in what was three-straight road matches for the Knights, the most consecutive road matches of the season. So far, the Knights are 0-1-1 on the trip with a 1-1 draw at Kansas State (9/29) and a 4-0 setback at Kansas (9/26).
UP NEXT FOR UCF
Following Friday’s action, UCF will return home and take on Arizona on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. The contest will mark the team’s annual Space Game.