Women’s Soccer to Open Big 12 Tournament Monday vs. No. 2 Seed Texas Tech - UCF Athletics
By Google News Sports ·
ORLANDO – Coming off a dominant 7-0 regular-season finale on Senior Knight at the UCF Soccer Complex, the UCF women’s soccer team will look to build on that momentum as it takes its talents to the 2026 Big 12 Soccer Tournament presented by Allstate on Monday against No. 7/5 Texas Tech in the quarterfinal round.
The seventh-seeded Knights and the second-seeded Red Raiders will face off at 6:30 ET/5:30 CT at the new Texas Health Mansfield Stadium in Mansfield, Texas. The contest will be the tournament’s third of the day and will be streamed live on ESPN+, with live stats available to follow on UCF.StatBroadcast.com.
As a win-or-go-home tournament, the winner of Monday’s contest will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal round, while the loser will be eliminated. The tournament’s championship match will take place on Saturday night. UCF finished the regular season with a solid 11-4-2 overall mark and a 6-3-2 record in conference play, good enough to earn the No. 7 seed in the highly competitive Big 12 with 20 points.
The Black and Gold’s play really took off once the calendar struck October, as their season has been defined by a five-game winning streak that saw them take down two ranked opponents (No. 17/17 Colorado and No. 12/14 West Virginia).
Looking to build off a 1-1 draw against Kansas State in Manhattan that allowed the Knights to clinch a spot in the 2026 Big 12 Soccer Tournament, UCF played host to the Iowa State Cyclones on Thursday for their regular-season finale and Senior Knight.
The Black and Gold did just that, deploying an offensive onslaught and getting it started early with five first-half goals, their most in the first 45 minutes of a contest since Oct. 6, 2002, when they scored seven at home versus Belmont. The last time the Knights scored exactly five in a half was on Sep. 30, 2004, in the second half against Lipscomb at home.
Leading the way was none other than Naomi Clark, who secured her third multi-goal game of the season to give her a total of 13 on the season, tied for the Big 12 lead with Texas Tech's Taylor Zdrojewski. That total also serves as the most in a single-season by a Knight since Stefanie Sanders matched the same output in 2018.
The other scorers in the first half included Alysiah Lockette, Tyra Eriksen, and senior Bella Douglas, who notched her second career goal in the final regular-season match of her career. With that many goals scored, the Knights had even more assists in the first 45. Katsi Bengoa assisted on three Knight goals, registering the first three assists of her career and her first-career three-assist contest.
Ainsley Moy, the team’s leader in assists, added to her totals on Lockette’s goal in the 23rd minute, now giving her nine on the season. Clark joined the giving party with an assist of her own, while seniors Brooke Mulroney and Payton Patrick each helped with an assist each.
The Knights kept their foot on the gas pedal in the second half as sophomore Sophia May notched her first-career goal in the 55th minute, coming off a feed from Clark, who notched her second assist of the game, her season-high.
The Black and Gold then scored their seventh and final goal of the night in the 66th minute, after Ella Holloran found Moy at the top of the box, who then buried a left-footed strike in the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season. UCF’s seven goals were their most in a matchup since Oct. 19, 2012, when they defeated East Carolina by the same score of 7-0 at home. Not getting…
Originally published by Google News Sports
