ORLANDO – After playing to a scoreless draw in its conference opener against West Virginia, the UCF women’s soccer team will look to claim victory in its first away match of Big 12 play when it travels to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night.
The Knights’ Big 12 Conference road opener is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. MST and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available for the contest by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com.
UCF will enter the game with a 6-1-1 record, its best start to a season through eight matches since 2017. After the first match of Big 12 Conference play, the Black and Gold hold a 0-0-1 league mark to currently sit in a tie for seventh place with Colorado, Kansas State, and West Virginia.
After concluding their non-conference slate with a healthy 6-1 record, the Knights opened league play with a scoreless draw at home against the West Virginia Mountaineers last Thursday.
Although the Black and Gold dominated all around the stat sheet, they were unable to capitalize on their offensive pressure, settling for a point in the end. Their best chance came early on in the 13th minute, when Liz Worden’s penalty kick ricocheted off the crossbar and deflected back off of the goal before the referees ended the play with an offsides call.
The Knights led the Mountaineers 14-8 in shots and 4-1 in shots on target in the match, with Rajanah Reed leading the way thanks to her five shots, two of which were on target.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson recorded her second straight clean sheet, and third in four matches with her one save on the night.
SEASON LEADERS
Rajanah Reed continues to set the pace for goals with her three on the year. Her 14 shots on goal and 27 total shots slightly edge teammate Liz Worden, as she holds 10 shots on goal and 26 total shots. Worden’s two goals on the season are good enough for a second-place tie with Gabi Berchon, Honoka Hamano, and Ainsley Moy. Worden’s team-leading four assists sees her top the points chart for UCF with eight.
Between the posts, goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson continues to provide defensive stability with her 23 saves and .821 save percentage, playing all 720 minutes on the year so far.
ROAD CONFERENCE OPENERS UNDER ROBERTS SAHAYDAK
The Black and Gold will enter Thursday’s contest with a 5-3-4 record in road conference openers under head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak. UCF is 1-1-0 in Big 12 Conference road openers, falling to Kansas 4-0 in 2024, while defeating Houston 1-0 for the program’s first Big 12 road victory on Sept. 21, 2023.
ABOUT ARIZONA
The Arizona Wildcats (5-4-0, 0-1-0 Big 12) will host the Knights after falling 1-0 to Iowa State on the road in their conference opener last Thursday. Before then, Arizona played out a three-game homestand that yielded a 2-1 record, earning wins over Denver (2-1) and Grand Canyon (5-2), on either side of a 3-0 loss to Pepperdine. Arizona began the season with a four-game winning streak, defeating Northern Arizona, UNLV, UC Irvine, and New Mexico State, scoring nine goals in its first four matches.
The Wildcats were picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 this year after going 11-6-2 and securing seventh place in the 2024 conference standings following a 6-4-1 finish. Their 2024 season ended in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, falling 2-1 to Baylor in the first round. Arizona has made seven NCAA Tournament appearances, with its most recent one coming in 2019.
Forwards Aurora Gaines and Jessica Bedolla lead the Arizona scoring charts with three goals apiece, followed by midfielders Sami Baytosh and Lily Boydstun and forward Narissa Fults with two each. Gaines and Baytosh sit atop the assist charts with three each, followed by Boydstun and forward Rose Calkins with two. Gaines’ nine points sets the pace for the squad, as well as her eight shots on goal.
In net, goalkeeper Olivia Ramey has 37 saves, and a .712 save percentage, posting seven saves each against Stanford, California, and Grand Canyon. Ramey’s 4.11 saves-per-game leads the Big 12 Conference.
Arizona is coached by fifth-year head coach Becca Moros, who has produced the first two NWSL draftees in Wildcat program history.
SERIES HISTORY VS. ARIZONA
Thursday’s Big 12 Conference matchup will mark only the fourth all-time meeting between UCF and Arizona. The tie is split directly down the middle, with both teams holding a win, loss, and tie (1-1-1). In the first-ever meeting between the programs in 2010, the sides played out to a 1-1 draw in Tucson. A neutral-site rematch on Sept. 1, 2017, saw the Knights take a 2-1 victory in Tempe, before the Wildcats achieved a neutral-site victory of their own, 3-2, last year after playing in Houston due to the effects of Hurricane Milton. Thursday’s contest will mark just UCF’s third trip in program history to the Grand Canyon State, as it previously played at Arizona in 2010 and at Arizona State in 2017.
BEST START AT THE D1 LEVEL
The Knights began the 2025 season with an unblemished 5-0-0 start. The 5-0 record marked the Black and Gold’s best start to a season in program history at the NCAA Division I level and the best since the program's inaugural season of competition in 1981 when UCF opened a perfect 7-0.
UCF opened the year with a 2-1 victory on the road at UAB and followed it up with a trio of home wins over Florida Atlantic (3-1), South Florida (4-1) and LSU (2-1). The Knights then defeated their second straight SEC foe on Aug. 28 with a 1-0 shutout victory at Florida.
UCF has outscored the opposition 14-5 on the season and after scoring the game winner in the 87th minute at Florida on Aug. 28, Rajanah Reed leads the way with three goals. Liz Worden, Ainsley Moy, Honoka Hamano, and Gabi Berchon are right behind her with a pair of goals apiece. Worden fronts the team in assists (4) and points (8), and Reed leads the way with shots (27) and shots on goal (14).
Now at 6-1-1, the record marks the Knights' best start to a season since 2017.
4-1 AGAINST SUNSHINE STATE FOES
The Knights capped non-conference play with a solid 4-1-0 record against Sunshine State foes on the season.
The Black and Gold first pulled out back-to-back home wins over Florida Atlantic (3-1) and South Florida (4-1), before shutting out the Florida Gators on the road by a score of 1-0. UCF then suffered a 1-0 setback in its first loss of the season to FIU at home on Sept. 4, but responded with a 2-0 victory at North Florida in the Black and Gold's non-conference finale on Sept. 11.
LATE GAME MAGIC
UCF has scored a pair of game-winning goals with the clock winding down against SEC foes on the season.
All deadlocked at 1-1 and less than 30 seconds to play against SEC foe LSU, the Knights found themself in a goal line scramble. Gabi Berchon took a shot from the center of the box with 17 seconds to go but LSU’s keeper was there to make the save. The ball then bounced over to Tyra Eriksen and she got off another shot that was again saved, but the ball deflected to Berchon right in front of the goal and she was able to slot it home for the dramatic game winner with just 11 seconds on the clock.
Scoreless at Florida just days later and in the 87th minute, Guta Franke fed a deep pass over the top to Liz Worden. Worden then deflected it ahead to Reed on the right side of the box and the
senior forward was able to drill a late strike into the back of the net to propel UCF to another thrilling victory.
BERCHON TABBED BIG 12 FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
UCF redshirt freshman midfielder Gabi Berchon was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Week following a standout performance that included her first collegiate brace and a dramatic game-winning goal against LSU. The Porto Alegre, Brazil native helped give UCF an early lead in the match, as she found the back of the net on an assist from Honoka Hamano in the fifth minute. With the game all knotted up at 1-1 and under 30 seconds remaining in the match, Rajanah Reed fed a cross into the box and Berchon fired a shot from the center of the box with 17 seconds to go but LSU’s keeper was there to make the save. The ball then bounced over to Tyra Eriksen and she got off another shot that was again saved, but the ball deflected to Berchon right in front of the goal and she was able to slot it home with 11 seconds remaining for the dramatic game winner. The weekly conference honor marked UCF's first of the year and also the first of the career for Berchon.
UP NEXT FOR UCF
The Knights will move on to the second half of their Arizona road trip as they travel to Tempe to take on No. 17 Arizona State on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. MST. UCF will then return home to the UCF Soccer Complex to take on Utah on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7:00 p.m.
This week, Knights take on the desert 🏜️ pic.twitter.com/P1DMlRLz4Q
— UCF Women's Soccer (@UCF_WSoccer) September 23, 2025
TICKETS
UCF women’s soccer season and single-game tickets are on sale now. Please visit ucfknights.com/tickets for more information or call the ticket office at (407) 823-1000.
ABOUT UCF ATHLETICS
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.