UCF Women’s Soccer Draws Auburn in NCAA Tournament

Knights receive an at-large berth and will travel to Gainesville for a Friday meeting with the Tigers.

11/12/2007

ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) – The UCF women’s soccer team celebrated Monday night when it learned that it received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Knights (14-4-3, 7-1-1) will take on Auburn (10-7-2) in the first round Friday in Gainesville, Fla., with game time still to be determined.



UCF was one of 34 at-large teams selected for the NCAA Tournament, and it will be making its 12th trip overall. The Knights are no stranger to receiving an at-large berth to the postseason. They became the first team in Atlantic Sun history to pick up an at-large spot when they went to the NCAA Tournament in 2004. That season, UCF defeated Florida in the first round in Gainesville before falling to Boston College.



This season will be the third time in the last five years that UCF will head to Gainesville for the NCAA Tournament. Host Florida (16-4-2) is the No. 3 overall seed in that section of the bracket and it will take on Miami (Fla.) (9-6-5) in the other first-round game in Gainesville. The winners will play Sunday for the right to move on to the third round Nov. 23, 24 or 25.



The Knights have a long history in the postseason, as they met North Carolina in Orlando in the finals in 1982, the first year the NCAA recognized women’s soccer as a varsity sport (UNC won, 1-0). They also reached the Final Four in 1987. In 2002, UCF actually faced off with Auburn in the NCAA first round in Tallahassee. The Tigers came away with a 2-0 win, however the Knights lead the all-time series, 3-1-0.



“This is great because we don’t have to get on an airplane as we just played a long week at UTEP,” said head coach Amanda Cromwell, who has helped UCF reach the NCAA Tournament in six of her nine years with the Knights. “We have been up in that bracket before in Gainesville and those are four great teams. We are familiar with Auburn because the coach used to be the UCF coach and I know her very well. She always has quality teams and does well in the SEC.



“We have good memories up there in Gainesville. We beat Florida in the first round (in 2004) and the year before that we lost to them in overtime 3-2. So we’ve had some good results and we are very familiar with that field. We have scored some great goals up there. And looking at the UF bracket they seeded us as the No. 2 seed because Auburn and Miami were below us in the RPI and the regional rankings. It was nice to get that respect.”



The Black and Gold went 14-4-3 this season and shared the Conference USA regular-season title with Memphis as both programs had identical 7-1-1 league records. The Knights defeated the Tigers Oct. 28, but Memphis won the C-USA tournament crown with a 2-0 victory over UCF Nov. 11 to earn the automatic bid.



UCF nabbed the at-large berth in large part due to its non-conference schedule. The Knights went 0-1-2 vs. teams with a RPI (ratings percentage index) of 1-50 with their lone loss to No. 1 Penn State, 3-1-0 against programs rated 51-100 and 2-0-0 vs. teams ranked from 101-250.



Auburn’s Karen Hoppa (known as Karen Richter when she with the Knights) was UCF’s head coach from 1993-98 and led the Knights to five Atlantic Sun Championships. She spent a total of 12 years in Orlando, including serving as one of UCF’s best goalkeepers in program history (ranks No. 1 in career GAA with a mark of 0.59 from 1987-90).



Hoppa has led the Tigers to a 10-7-2 record and they claimed second place in the SEC West Division. During the regular season, Auburn defeated Memphis 2-1, but lost to Florida State 3-0. UCF tied FSU, 3-3, and went 1-1 vs. Memphis this year. Similar to the Knights, Auburn also defeated Mississippi State only to lose to Mississippi in 2007.



For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.