KnightCap: Women’s Soccer and Volleyball Get First Big 12 Wins

Plus: Men’s Soccer still searching for first conference win

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Over this past week, the UCF Knights sports world saw the soccer and volleyball teams continuing their quests for their first wins in conference play, the men’s tennis team continuing its fall slate and the women’s tennis team seeing its first action of the athletic year.

We also have our Knight of the Week and Play of the Week in this Monday, Sept. 29 edition of Knight Cap.

Women’s Soccer Splits Big 12 Road Trip

The UCF Women’s Soccer team split its road trip this weekend to the

state of Arizona, falling to the Wildcats on Thursday, 1-0, but also getting its first Big 12 win against Arizona State on Sunday night, 3-2.

The Knights’ matchup against Arizona was very much like its Big 12 opener against West Virginia, a defensive affair that did not get many shots on goal, with the Wildcats getting a 4-2 advantage.

Goalkeeper Geneis Perez-Watson picked up three saves in this contest, but could not reach Arizona forward Aurora Gaines’ 42nd-minute penalty kick. It ended up hitting the left goalpost before finding the back of the net, and ended up being the deciding factor in the upset win for an Arizona team that was ranked #86 in the RPI rankings entering the match.

The Knights, consequently, took a hit in the RPI rankings, losing ten spots, but quickly responded on Sunday night by scoring their first goals in Big 12 play en route to defeating Arizona State, 3-2.

All three of UCF’s leading goal-scorers each added another one to their season totals in this match.

Forward Liz Worden found the net first in the 20th minute, the only first-half goal, by landing a deep shot in the top left corner off an assist from midfielder Honoka Hamano. It is her fourth goal of the season.

While the Sun Devils equalized in the 52nd minute, the Knights were quick to take the lead back a couple of minutes later with a goal off a free kick from midfielder Gabi Berchon. It is also her fourth goal of the season.

Not to be left out, forward Rajanah Reed got her fifth goal of the season, maintaining her position at the team’s lead, with a 70th-minute header off a cross from Worden, who got her sixth assist, also the most on the team. This insurance goal ended up coming in handy since the Sun Devils managed one more goal in the 77th minute.

The Knights (7-2-1, 1-1-1 Big 12) return home this week with matchups against a scrappy Utah squad on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by a visit from Kansas State on Sunday at 1 p.m. for Alumni Weekend.

Men’s Soccer Falls to #10 West Virginia

The UCF Men’s Soccer team remains in search of its first win in Sun Belt play after a 1-0 loss to #10 West Virginia.

The Mountaineers scored the match’s lone goal in the 50th minute off a long pass to forward Sammie Walker that lured UCF goalkeeper Juanvi Munoz away from the goal, leaving an opening. Munoz blocked the rest of the Mountaineers’ shots on goal, racking up four saves.

“I think that, in the first half, we didn’t show up with the right intensity,” Munoz said. “I mean, during these games, when you play against top teams, you have to show up with a lot of intensity, no? I think that we didn’t.”

It’s a criticism echoed by head coach Scott Calabrese, who said this match had to be a “wake-up call” for the team.

“We can never play a match like that again,” Calabrese said. “What happened in the match in terms of what we tried to do, what they tried to do, none of that actually matters if you don’t get this part right, and we didn’t get that part right, which is we did not show up to compete at the right level.”

The loss marks the Knights’ fourth against a Top 25 team this season.

“It’s tough for us, because we already know that we have the level to beat them,” Munoz said. “Every time that we play against them, we’re like, ‘Yeah, we have the level. We can compete against them,’ because we’re UCF. We have been the number one in the nation.

“We’re a big school, we’re a big soccer school, but we’re not proving it. That’s not okay. That’s not acceptable.”

The Knights’ (2-5-1, 0-2 Sun Belt) next chance for their first Sun Belt win comes on the road Saturday at 7 p.m. against South Carolina.

Volleyball Sweeps Cincinnati for First Conference Win

UCF Volleyball, led by first-year head coach Matt Botsford, broke out the brooms to sweep the Cincinnati Bearcats in three straight sets (25-16, 25-23, 25-20) Wednesday evening at The Venue, marking the athletic program’s 800th Division I Victory and giving the Knights their first Big 12 win of the season.

View this story from Cassidy Mills for more.

Women’s Tennis Opens Fall Campaign

The UCF Women’s Tennis team concluded its fall season opener at the Big 12 Individual Championships in Waco, Texas, with a series of strong performances across four days of competition.

Freshmen Marina Gatell and Lauren Seye, along with sophomore transfer Vladislava Andreevskaya, each secured singles victories in their UCF debuts, signaling immediate contributions from the team’s newcomers. Senior Jantje Tilbuerger and sophomore Hannah Rylatt earned hard-fought wins on opening day, while fellow sophomores Jade Psonka and Olivia Bergler advanced with victories in the consolation draws.

Doubles competition highlighted UCF’s depth, as all three Knight pairings claimed victories on the second day of play. The combinations of Rylatt/Andreevskaya, Bergler/Seye and Psonka/Gatell each notched wins, giving the team momentum and demonstrating versatility across the lineup.

While the Knights encountered setbacks against seasoned opponents in later rounds, they closed the tournament with multiple back-to-back singles and doubles wins. Every player recorded at least one victory, a sign of the team’s competitive balance and adaptability in the opening event of the season.

Men’s Tennis Competes in Tallahassee

The UCF Men’s Tennis team continued its fall slate this weekend at the Bedford Cup in Tallahassee.

Four Knights players made the trip: sophomore Nicolas Oliveira, sophomore Oregon transfer Clement Lemire, senior Luca Hotze and sophomore Kai-Luca Ampaw, a transfer from Gonzaga making his UCF debut.

All four UCF players went 2-1 in singles play, with all of them, barring Hotze, making it to the quarterfinals of the main draw. Hotze ended up falling in the second round, but picked up a win in the consolation draw.

In doubles play, Lemire and Hotze teamed up to make it to the semifinals, getting two wins, one of which was via a walkover, before getting eliminated by a duo from Florida Gulf Coast, 8-7 (7-4), in a tiebreaker set.

Meanwhile, Ampaw and Oliveira made it to the quarterfinals, taking down a duo from Stetson before falling, 8-6, to the tournament’s No. 2-seed duo from Florida State.

Click here to view the full tournament brackets.

The Knights are back in action next weekend, Oct. 3-5, when they return home to the USTA National Campus to host the UCF Invitational.

Knight of the Week

Viktorija Senkute, Rowing

UCF Rowing alumna Viktorija Senkute competed for her native Lithuania in the Women’s Single Sculls at the 2025 World Rowing Championships this week in Shanghai, China.

She finished fourth-place overall, finishing the A Final with a 7:20.67 time. It marks her first World Rowing Championships appearance since she took a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.