Knights set to host strong field in UCF Tournament

The UCF Soccer and Track Complex is gearing up to host the UCF Tournament for the women’s soccer team this weekend. The Knights will host Dartmouth, Georgia and USF.

The two-day tourney will feature a Georgia-USF match Friday afternoon at 5 p.m., followed by a Dartmouth-UCF match at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, USF will play Dartmouth at noon and UCF will battle Georgia at 2:30 p.m.

“We are excited to have all four teams on campus,” UCF head coach Amanda Cromwell said.

UCF
The Knights have a 3-1 record overall.

As of Tuesday, the Knights were ranked as high as No. 2 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Central Region and were No. 9 on both the Soccer America and NSCAA rankings.

Like all nationally ranked teams, UCF has its weapons. One of UCF’s many weapons is Nicolette Radovcic. She has scored two goals in the four games she has appeared in this season. Her last was a game-winning goal during overtime against Miami.

Some of the other UCF weapons include defender Marissa Diggs and forward Tishia Jewell. Diggs was named the league’s Preseason Defender of the Year by Conference USA. Jewell was named on the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy Watch List earlier in the season.

Dartmouth and Georgia will have their hands full as they battle a top-10 nationally ranked team.

Dartmouth
Dartmouth will have a clean slate entering this tournament. Unlike USF and Georgia, Dartmouth will travel with some fresh legs, as it hasn’t played any games this season.

“They may not be as game sharp as us [because] they haven’t battled like we have,” Cromwell said.

The Big Green will open their campaign against UCF on Friday. The Knights have had a little bit more playing time as they’ve played two away games and a pair of matches at home.

UCF and USF will want to keep an eye on Dartmouth’s forward Tasha Wilkins. As a freshman, she had three goals in the 12 games she played in the 2011 season. This was the highest by any player on the team.

Georgia
Georgia has a 3-1 overall record so far this season. UCF and USF need to keep an eye on Bella Hartley, as she’s scored two out of three goals unassisted this season. Like UCF’s Jewell, Alexa Newfield, Georgia’s midfielder is also one of the 38 women named in the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.

USF
USF will enter this tournament with a 2-1 record. This weekend, USF will find out how it measures up against Dartmouth and Georgia. USF has already found out how it measures up against the Knights. The Knights claimed a 3-1 victory over USF last weekend but the Bulls went on to beat Miami 1-0 and Indiana 3-0. Having already played each other, UCF and USF will not have a rematch.

Dartmouth and Georgia will have to watch out for the Bulls’ forward Sharla Passariello as she has put away three goals and one assist in the three games she has played in this season.