Tuesday, September 23, 2008

UCF vs. Kansas Women's Soccer

The University of Central Florida's women's soccer team suffered its first defeat at home Friday Sept. 19., falling to the Kansas Jayhawks 3-2. It was the first home loss since the 2006 season, ending a 16-win streak. The Knights enter conference play with a 5-2-1 overall record.

"It was a really good soccer game and the fans got a fun game to watch," said head coach Amanda Cromwell. "There was a lot scoring and back-and-forth action. The way we were attacking I thought we were going to score four goals tonight since we were hitting on all cylinders. But that's soccer sometimes. It's the game we hate and it's the game we love."

Junior Yvonne George scored an unassisted goal in the 9th minute to get the large crowd cheering. Shooting from the left side of the field and from about 30 yards out, she hooked the ball untouched into the back of the net for her second goal of the season.

Kansas (6-1-0) did not take long to respond. Off a well-placed corner from Shannon McCabe, Katie Williams headed the ball past Knights keeper redshirt freshman Aline Reis.

Kansas took the lead in the 39th minute as Jessica Bush passed to Kelsey Clifton, who turned and from 10 yards out rolled the ball across the goal line.

In the 60th minute, UCF drew a foul in the box. Junior Becca Thomas lined up for the penalty shot and drilled it at Kansas keeper Julie Hanley. Hanley was unable to wrap her arms around the ball, however, and Thomas followed for the rebound and easily slipped the ball into the goal. Thomas leads the Knights with four goals in the season.

Kansas' Williams was in on the Jayhawk's go-ahead goal as she made a long pass to Emily Cressy, who beat her defender before putting the ball in the top-right corner.

Though UCF fought hard for the remaining eight minutes, they were unable to take advantage of the scant opportunities Kansas surrendered in that time.

UCF travels to UAB and Memphis to open Conference USA play. Their next two home games are Oct. 3 against Marshall and Oct. 5 against East Carolina.

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