An offensive explosion against Houston on Sunday at home allowed the UCF Women's Soccer team to pick up a much-needed conference win.
Prior to game against the Cougars, UCF had recorded more than two goals only one other time this season. The Knights scored four goals against Marshall on Oct.3.
Sunday, they notched six goals in a 6-0 rout of the Cougars to move their record to 9-4-3 overall and 4-2-2 in C-USA.
Senior Jessie Gardner made her first start in goal for the Knights and helped her team record its largest lopsided win since a 9-0 thrashing over Lipscomb in 2004. She was forced to make only one first half save as she watched her team continuously pepper Cougars goalie Shelby Scott with shots.
Gardner totaled four saves in 85 minutes before being relieved by Lynzee Lee, who added a save to complete the shutout for the Knights.
"It felt great [to get the shutout]," Gardner said in a press release. "The coaches told me last week that I would get to play on Sunday. So I got mentally ready, and I knew this team wouldn't have a problem because we have great defenders.
"Offensively we were amazing today. All of those goals were perfect. their goalkeeper didn't have much of a chance because our forwards were too good."
The Knights began the scoring on a corner kick in the 7th minute on a goal from Courtney Whidden.
Becca Thomas sent in a cross that made its way to Danielle dos Santos, but her back was to the net. Making a fancy maneuver, she pulled off a bicycle kick, but a Houston defender was there to make the save. The rebound then ricocheted to Whidden, who slammed it into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the year.
Thomas also set up the Knights' second goal of the game that came in the 26th minute. She dished a pass over the heads of a couple of Cougar defenders to a streaking Yvonne George. All alone with only the keeper to beat, George made a quick move to her left and nailed it past Scott for a 2-0 lead.
With 11 minutes remaining in the first half, the Knights padded their lead with two goals in a span of just 39 seconds. Setting up the team's third goal, Brianna Schooley sent a pass through the Houston defense to Amanda Martorana, who also had no trouble faking out the goalie to get her fourth goal of the season.
Schooley notched the next goal of the match and her first goal of the season with a strike from 20 yards out to give the Knights a 4-0 cushion going into the half.
"I've been working hard to get a goal all year," Schooley said in a press release. "I was excited to finally get it. Today was a very fun game to be a part of."
Gardner turned away all four shots the Cougars sent her way. Meanwhile, the Knights' offense was busy creating more scoring opportunities, and ripped off 13 more shots to add to the 16 they had in the first half. Eighteen of their 29 shots were on net.
Schooley collected her second assist of the day on a goal by George in the 85th minute, and just a minute later, George and dos Santos set up Schooley for her second of the game.
Schooley totaled a career-high six points Sunday, while George collected a season-best five points.
With three regular-season matches left, all of which are against conference opponents, UCF will have to keep a close eye on East Carolina if it wants to have a shot at a conference title. The Pirates currently lead the Knights by six points in the standings.
UCF will conclude its 2008 home schedule Friday against Southern Methodist University at 7 p.m. The Mustangs are 5-10-1 on the season and are in the bottom tier of the C-USA standings. They come into the match on a streak of three consecutive losses, scoring only two goals in that span.
The one bright spot on the season for the Mustangs has been the solid play of freshman goalkeeper Courtney Webb. Though she has appeared in only eight games thus far while splitting playing time with senior Ashley Gunter, Webb has allowed just 10 goals in her eight appearances.
Gunter has allowed 21 goals in nine games. Yet, it is unclear who will get the start for the Mustangs on Friday.?
Be the first to comment on this article!