DURHAM, N.C. - Following a 2-0 shutout of Maine on Friday, the UCF women’s soccer team will travel to Durham, North Carolina to take on the second-seeded No. 11/10 Duke Blue Devils in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship at Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
The NCAA Tournament contest will air live on ESPN+ and live stats can be followed by visiting NCAA.com.
“We’re just ready to roll. We’re very, very excited to have a great matchup against Duke, who is one of the best teams in the country, as everybody knows,” UCF head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak said. “But I believe we are too, so I think that’s going to be a great matchup.”
The seventh-seeded Knights will enter the second round with a 12-3-5 overall record, representing one of a conference-record eight Big 12 Conference programs to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in 2025. The Black and Gold achieved a 5-1-5 conference record to finish sixth in the conference standings this season. UCF will step onto Freeman Field as not only the seven seed in its bracket, but also the 30th-ranked team by RPI in the nation.
The NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance will mark the Knights’ first as a member of the Big 12 Conference and first since 2022 when they fell to the nationally-ranked No. 1 UCLA Bruins in penalty kicks. In all, it will be the program’s 43rd all-time match in the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship. The Black and Gold currently hold a 20-22 all-time NCAA Tournament record.
UCF had its 2025 Big 12 Tournament run come to a close on Nov. 3 in the quarterfinal round with a 3-2 setback to then-No. 11/4 Colorado. Prior to the loss, the Black and Gold were unbeaten in nine straight, as they went 5-0-4 over their final nine matches of the regular season. UCF also holds a 2-1-1 record on the year against nationally ranked foes and 3-1-2 versus teams that hold a top 25 RPI.
The Knights opened up 2025 NCAA Tournament play with a decisive 2-0 victory over the Maine Black Bears on Friday night in front of a season-record crowd of 1,132 at the UCF Soccer Complex for the first-ever matchup between the two programs.
Goals from Rajanah Reed and Hannah Boughton on either side of the halftime break helped UCF to an NCAA Tournament First Round victory for the first time since 2022.
After 20 minutes of evenly-contested play, Guta Franke advanced the ball down the sideline to find Liz Worden. After performing a few crossovers, Worden wrong-footed her defender and poked the ball towards the byline, putting in a perfect cross on the floor to Reed. The Knights’ number nine coolly slotted home for her team-leading eighth goal of the season to break the deadlock.
UCF doubled its advantage in the second half through Boughton’s no-look header in the 65th minute of play. Executing a corner kick routine, Worden passed the ball short to Honoka Hamano, who then found Franke at the top corner of the 18-yard box. Franke then put in a cross towards the penalty spot to find Boughton, and her backwards flick traveled beyond the Maine goalkeeper for her first goal of the season.
🎥 Round 1 Recap pic.twitter.com/Npob8MR1lZ
— UCF Women's Soccer (@UCF_WSoccer) November 16, 2025
SEASON LEADERS
With her sixth game-winning goal of the season, senior Rajanah Reed leads the team with eight goals to her name in 2025. Liz Worden follows just behind her with seven, while Honoka Hamano takes third place with four. Gabi Berchon is next with three goals and Ella Holloran and Ainsley Moy have two each on the season. Tyra Eriksen, Jada Silvest, Edidiong Etim, and Hannah Boughton have all chipped in with one. Worden’s 10 assists pace the squad, making her the first Knight to reach double-digit assists in a season since Tatiana Johnson (11) in 2014. She also leads the points charts with 24, as well as leading the team in total shots with 54. Reed continues to have the most shots within the goalposts with 29.
Goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson recorded two saves against Maine on Friday to increase her season totals to 75 saves and a remarkable .833 save percentage, good enough for fourth and second in the Big 12 respectively. She has played all 1800 minutes of the season for UCF.
FIVE KNIGHTS TABBED ALL-BIG 12
UCF had a total of five players receive All-Big 12 honors last week. Senior forward Liz Worden led the way by being named to the conference’s first team. Behind Worden’s first-team selection, teammates Rajanah Reed (forward), Honoka Hamano (midfield), Maria Tregansin (midfield) and Genesis Perez Watson (goalkeeper) were all named to the conference’s second team. The honors marked the first All-Big 12 accolades for all five players.
RED HOT AT THE RIGHT TIME
The Knights will enter Thursday’s NCAA Tournament Second Round having lost only once in their last 11 games. Prior to dropping the 3-2 Big 12 Tournament contest to Colorado on Nov. 3, UCF was unbeaten in nine straight matches with a 5-0-4 record during the stretch. Before the stretch, UCF’s last loss came back on Sept. 25 at Arizona. Over the course of the nine unbeaten contests, the Black and Gold recorded back-to-back victories over then-No. 17 Arizona State (3-2) and Utah (2-0) before picking up consecutive 0-0 draws versus Kansas State and Cincinnati. UCF then pulled out a 2-1 win at Oklahoma State before drawing 1-1 at Houston. The Knights then returned home to record back-to-back 2-1 victories over No. 16/10 Baylor and BYU, before capping the regular season with a 0-0 draw at No. 15/6 Texas Tech.
In all, the Knights hold just three losses on the year as they previously suffered a 1-0 setback to in-state foe FIU on Sept. 4.
NCAA TOURNAMENT SUCCESS UNDER COACH ROBERTS SAHAYDAK
Thursday will continue UCF’s sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak era. In her 13th year at the helm of the Knights, Roberts Sahaydak has led the Black and Gold to NCAA appearances in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022, and now 2025. UCF’s clash with Duke will be the third NCAA Second Round match under Roberts Sahaydak as the Knights look to improve upon her 1-1 record in those matches, and her 4-5 record in all NCAA Tournament matches.
UCF ALL-TIME IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
In UCF women’s soccer history, the program has made 23 appearances in the NCAA Tournament with 42 NCAA Tournament matches in all, posting a 20-22 record since its first appearance in 1982. In second round matches specifically, the Black and Gold are 2-9, and 1-1 under Roberts Sahaydak. The Knights last advanced past the second round in 2014 and 2011, where they finished in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, respectively. Against ACC opponents in the NCAA Tournament, UCF is 6-7, and has never contested an elimination match with Duke.
Stage is set for tomorrow 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KIPVOHBdTK
— UCF Women's Soccer (@UCF_WSoccer) November 19, 2025
NCAA SOCCER RUNS THROUGH CENTRAL FLORIDA
UCF is one of eight Division I schools to host an NCAA First Round matchup in both men’s and women’s soccer in 2025, joining Clemson, Duke, Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, Virginia, and West Virginia. Additionally, UCF is one of 15 schools to have both a men’s and women’s soccer team in the tournament, after the UCF men’s soccer team qualified with an auto-bid by defeating No. 12 Marshall 3-1 to lift its first-ever Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship on Sunday.
ABOUT DUKE
Duke enters the contest on the back of junior forward Mia Minestrella, whose hat trick propelled the Blue Devils to a 3-0 defeat of Elon on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heel State side enters the 2025 tournament with a 14-4-1 overall record and a third-place finish in the ACC regular season with a 7-3-0 league mark. Duke fell in the semifinal of the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship to second-seed Notre Dame, 2-1. Before that, the Blue Devils had won seven straight, notably taking down No. 19 UNC (3-2), No. 25 Clemson (3-2), and No. 21 Louisville (1-0). Duke has five total ranked wins on the season, also defeating No. 8 Arkansas (2-0) and No. 11 Penn State (3-2) in two of its first three matches in 2025. The ACC outfit will step onto the pitch on Thursday ranked 11th nationally in the RPI rankings.
Redshirt junior forward Kat Rader was named to the ACC All-Tournament team for her team’s only goal in its ACC Tournament semifinal loss to Notre Dame. Additionally, the Blue Devils saw six players named to All-ACC teams, with Minestrella on the first team, Rader on the second team, junior defender Cameron Roller and senior midfielder Carina Lageyre on the third team, and freshmen Daya King (D) and Avery Oder (F) on the freshman team.
Minestrella leads the Duke scoring charts with 15 goals, followed by Rader’s 10 and Oder’s six. Junior midfielder Mia Oliaro leads the assist charts with 11, followed by Rader’s 10 and senior midfielder Devin Lynch’s seven.
In goal, Caroline Dysart has started 18 out of 19 games for the Blue Devils, while posting 47 saves and 2.47 saves per game. Her eight shutouts are tied for third in the ACC and she enters Thursday’s NCAA Second Round with a .712 save percentage. She has played a total of 1595 minutes on the season, appearing in all 19 matches.
The Blue Devils are coached by first-year head coach Kieran Hall and associate head coach Carla Overbeck. Hall leads his team to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at the helm after serving as an assistant coach in 2019 and associate head coach from 2020-2025.
Overbeck has been coaching at Duke since 1992 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2025. As a player, she captained the 1996 United States Women’s National Soccer Team that won Olympic gold, and the 1999 United States squad that won the World Cup, playing alongside UCF head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak.
SERIES HISTORY VS. DUKE
Thursday's NCAA Tournament Second Round matchup will mark the 12th all-time meeting between the Knights and Blue Devils. The Black and Gold hold a 4-7-0 overall record against Duke. UCF and Duke have never met on the NCAA Tournament stage before.
PEREZ WATSON’S STELLAR SEASON
UCF goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson has had an impressive season so far, commanding a back line that has only conceded 15 goals, or 0.75 per game. Perez Watson’s eight clean sheets best her two from 2024, and she has set career highs in save percentage (.833) and goals against average (.75), to rank second and third respectively in the Big 12. Her 75 total saves see her tied for fourth-place in the conference.
After recording a pair of clean sheets last month against Utah and K-State, Perez Watson also took home Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week and Big 12 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week honors.
FRANKE NAMED TO TOP DRAWER SOCCER TEAM OF THE WEEK
Brazilian sophomore defender Guta Franke has been named as a member of Top Drawer Soccer’s Team of the Week for the week of November 18, as announced by the organization on Tuesday. Franke earned the nomination by virtue of both her clean sheet and two assists in the NCAA First Round victory over Maine on Friday. For the first goal, she played a clever through ball to Liz Worden to isolate her on the wing, leading to UCF’s first goal of the night. Franke later delivered a cross into the penalty area to find Hannah Boughton for her first goal of the season, doubling the Knights’ lead. The nomination is the first of Franke’s collegiate career.
SILVEST AND ERIKSEN RANKED IN TOP DRAWER SOCCER MIDSEASON TOP 100
Redshirt sophomore defender Jada Silvest has been included in Top Drawer Soccer’s Women’s Midseason Top 100 Players list, taking the 80th spot, while freshman forward Tyra Eriksen was included as No. 58 on Top Drawer Soccer’s Midseason Top Freshmen.
Silvest has been an instrumental player for the Black and Gold this season, playing 90 minutes in all but two contests, in which she featured for at least 80 minutes in both. Silvest has been a key contributor to the Knights’ eight clean sheets in 2025, and has chipped in offensively as well, with a goal against then-No. 16/10 Baylor and a pair of assists on the season.
Eriksen, a true freshman from Sweden, has had a strong season for the Knights in which she has scored one goal and also recorded a pair of assists so far during her debut season at the college level. She has tallied a total of 17 shots with six shots coming on target on the year. The winger has played in all 20 matches with 16 starts for the Black and Gold.
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 30-15 on the season after scoring two more goals in the NCAA Tournament First Round against Maine last Friday. The Black and Gold’s 12 are the highest tally achieved in a season since 2017, when they notched 13 wins.
UP NEXT
With a win on Thursday night, UCF will advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament that will take place at Duke’s Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 23 against the winner of Thursday’s Kansas-Louisville game. To view the bracket for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, click HERE.