Colliding with its fourth-straight ranked opponent, the UCF women’s soccer team proved once again to be a strong competitor on the national stage by defeating No. 19 Penn State, 2-1, Friday in double overtime at the Virginia Nike Soccer Classic in Charlottesville. Junior Nicolette Radovcic’s (Rockaway, N.J.) goal in the 104th minute proved to be the difference.
“This was a great victory for us, another big result out here on the road,” head coach Amanda Cromwell said. “This was our third-straight ranked team in a row on the road and the team showed that they were ready to play and came to win.”
Radovcic scored both goals for UCF (3-1-1), the first of which came in the ninth minute after she stole the ball from the PSU goalkeeper and tapped it into an empty net. Radovcic took four shots for the Black and Gold, three of which were on goal.
PSU’s Maya Hayes put the Nittany Lions (5-2) on the scoreboard less than a minute later, bringing the score to 1-1.
After over 90 minutes of scoreless play, Radovcic’s double-overtime goal put the game away for the Knights. Junior Tishia Jewell (Satellite Beach, Fla.) and freshman Jennifer Martin (Plantation, Fla.) collected the assists.
UCF goalkeeper Aline Reis (Campinas, Brazil) turned aside six shots for the Knights, including four saves in the second half and one more in the first overtime.
The back three did a great job protecting the goal on defense for UCF and even though the Knights gave up 19 shots Reis did a great job cleaning up the few good scoring chances PSU had.
“I think the attacking group did a great job of creating chances,” associate head coach Colby Hale said. “Nicolette had two goals and Tishia took five shots and collected an assist. We created a lot of opportunities and we able to make two of the count for the win.”