FORT WORTH, Texas – Riding a nine-match unbeaten streak, the UCF women’s soccer team will open play in the 2025 Big 12 Soccer Tournament Presented by Allstate on Monday night against No. 11/4 Colorado in the quarterfinal round.
The sixth-seeded Knights and third-seeded Buffaloes will do battle at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT at TCU’s Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. The match will be the fourth of the day and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats can also be followed by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal round while the loser will be eliminated. The first two rounds of the Big 12 Tournament will take place at TCU, while championship match will be held at Baylor’s Betty Lou Mays Field in Waco on Saturday.
UCF (11-2-5, 5-1-5 Big 12) earned the No. 6 seed for the conference tournament after going unbeaten over its last nine matches with a 5-0-4 record. After defeating both No. 16/10 Baylor and BYU at home last week, the Black and Gold capped the stretch by playing No. 15/6 Texas Tech to a 0-0 draw on Thursday evening in Lubbock.
Genesis Perez Watson recorded a game-high five saves in goal for the Black and Gold in the game, as she denied each shot on frame from TTU.
With the game scoreless and Texas Tech looking to score the go-ahead goal in the second half, the Red Raider offense tallied 13 second-half shots, which included seven over the final 10 minutes. The UCF defense was up for the challenge, however, as it denied the Red Raiders of scoring down the stretch.
After a handful of shots that were just off target, TTU had one more opportunity with the clock ticking down under 10 seconds. Texas Tech got off a corner kick and Taylor Zdrojewski was in the box to head a shot towards the goal, but Perez Watson was able to deflect the ball over the crossbar as time expired to seal the draw.
For the game, TTU outshot the Knights 20-3 and five to two on goal. Perez Watson saved all five shots that were sent her way to earn her seventh clean sheet of the season and move to 11-2-5 on the year.
With the result, UCF remains unbeaten on the season against ranked foes with a 2-0-1 mark.
SEASON LEADERS
Liz Worden’s brace last Monday against BYU brings her team-leading goal tally to seven, pipping Rajanah Reed’s six and Honoka Hamano’s four. Gabi Berchon follows with three goals and Ainsley Moy has two on the season. Tyra Eriksen, Ella Holloran, Jada Silvest, and Edidiong Etim have all chipped in with one each. Worden also tops the assist charts with eight, and the points charts with 22, as well as leading the team in total shots with 52. Reed continues to lead the shots on goal tally with 25 shots on frame.
After recording five more saves on Thursday, goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson now totals 66 saves and a remarkable .846 save percentage, good enough for third in the Big 12. She has played all 1620 minutes of the season for UCF.
UNBEATEN IN NINE STRAIGHT
The Knights will enter the Big 12 Tournament unbeaten in their last nine games. UCF’s last loss came on Sept. 25 at Arizona. Over the course of the last nine 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 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 two losses on the year as they previously suffered a 1-0 setback to in-state foe FIU on Sept. 4. With an 11-2-5 overall record, the Black and Gold enter the Big 12 Tournament rated 26th nationally in the latest RPI rankings and as the tournament’s six seed after going 5-1-5 in league play.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SUCCESS UNDER COACH ROBERTS SAHAYDAK
UCF will enter the 2025 Big 12 Soccer Tournament Presented by Allstate with a 1-1 all-time record in Big 12 Tournament play after defeating TCU in the quarterfinals in 2023 and falling to BYU in the semifinals that year. The Knights also hold a 7-6-5 conference tournament record under Coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak with the team having won their last conference championship in 2013—Coach Roberts Sahaydak’s first season at the helm in Orlando.
ABOUT COLORADO
The No. 11/4 Buffaloes earned the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 Tournament after going 14-2-3 overall and finishing in third place in the conference standings with an 8-1-2 in league record. CU is unbeaten in its last six matches and has won three straight with wins over No. 5/3 Texas Tech, Arizona, and Kansas down the stretch. Colorado has only suffered two losses on the season with setbacks to No. 20 Baylor and Wisconsin. CU advanced to the second round of the Big 12 Tournament last season and had their 2024 season come to a close in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Buffaloes have made the NCAA Tournament in six of the last nine seasons.
The Big 12’s leading scorer Hope Leyba leads Colorado on the season and is ranked second nationally with 19 goals scored. She also ranks third nationally in goals per game average (1.00), fourth in total points (39), seventh in points per game (2.05), and 12th in game-winning goals (5). Jace Holley is next for CU with 11 goals on the season, while Caley Swierenga paces the team in assists and ranks third in the Big 12 with nine.
Preseason All-Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Year Jordan Nytes is second in the Big 12 in saves with 88 and leads the conference with an .871 save percentage. Her save percentage is also good enough for eighth nationally. She holds a 14-2-3 record on the year with seven shutouts.
Colorado is coached by Danny Sanchez. Sanchez is in his 14th season at the helm in Boulder and has led the Buffaloes to eight NCAA appearances.
SERIES HISTORY VS. COLORADO
Monday's Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal match will mark just the second all-time meeting between the Knights and Buffaloes. The two will enter with a 0-0-1 record against one another after UCF and CU played to a 0-0 draw in Boulder last season in which Genesis Perez Watson recorded a career-high 14 saves.
2025 BIG 12 SOCCER TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY ALLSTATE
The top eight teams in the conference standings have qualified to compete at the 2025 Big 12 Soccer Tournament Presented by Allstate. The tournament will be single-elimination, and the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be contested at TCU’s Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium, on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5 respectively, while the championship match will be held at Baylor’s Betty Lou Mays Field on Nov. 8. UCF will enter as the No. 6 seed.
GENESIS 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 12 goals, or 0.67 per game. Perez Watson’s seven clean sheets bests her two from 2024, and she has set career highs in save percentage (.846) and goals against average (.670), with the latter putting her in third in the Big 12. Her 66 total saves see her in fifth place in the conference standings.
After recording a pair of clean sheets against Utah and K-State recently, Perez Watson also took home Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week and Big 12 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week honors.
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’ seven 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 16 shots with six shots coming on target on the year. The striker has played in all 18 matches with 14 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 26-12 on the season and after Liz Worden’s brace against BYU last Monday.
Now at 11-2-5, the record marks the Black and Gold’s best at this point in the season since 2017 when the team achieved a 13-2-3 record through 18 games.
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.
