Soccer Opens Postseason Campaign in Orlando
ORLANDO — The Miami Hurricanes mark their return tothe NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship field Saturday night with anopening-round matchup against No. 18 UCF. Kickoff for the game is set for 6p.m. from the UCF Soccer and Track Complex.
The Canes will be looking to avenge their regular seasonloss to the Knights, a 1-0 overtime decision back on Aug 26. Despiteregistering 12 shots in the contest, Miami was unable to find the back of thenet.
“UCF is a great team,” head coach Tom Anagnost said.”They are very well-coached. They are disciplined, organized, and know how towin. We are very excited for the opportunity to play them again.”
The Hurricanes, one of nine representatives from theAtlantic Coast Conference to qualify for the postseason, are embarking on theirsecond straight postseason campaign under Coach Anagnost. Miami (9-7-3, 4-4-2ACC) won its first-ever Championship game a season ago, besting Alabama 3-2 indouble overtime to advance to the tournament’s second round. 2012 will mark thefifth postseason appearance in program history.
Despite losing some key contributors to season-endinginjuries, the Hurricanes feature seven returning starters from their 2011postseason run. One of them, senior defender Ali Brennan, voiced her excitementat the team’s chance to redeem itself.
“It was a reallyupsetting loss, so just having a chance to play them again is awesome,”she said.
Assistant coach Matt Kaganagreed.
“We know they’re a strongteam,” Kagan said. “But we think being able to bus and not having to fly,getting on a good schedule, and the fact that we know the team, gives us a goodopportunity to be successful.”
Both sides have beenparticularly impressive on the defensive end of the pitch, an important factorin clinching their respective Championship berths. UCF has not allowed a goalsince a 2-1 loss to Colorado College back on Oct. 12, and held three opponentsscoreless en route to its first Conference-USA Tournament championship.
In need of some late-seasonmagic of their own to clinch a spot in the ACC Championship, the Hurricanes didnot allow a single goal over their final four regular season games. Theimpressive stretch, which included a win over No. 1 Florida State on the lastday of the season, came against four ranked teams, and propelled Miami to a No.7 seed in the conference tournament.
“We’re excited. I knowthe team’s going to be ready,” assistant coach Jason Hamilton said. “We’relooking forward to playing UCF again.”
A free live stream ofthe game is available via UCFAthletics.com, or by clicking HERE. Formore information on the game, including ticket availability and parkingdirections, click HERE.
