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UCF Knights women's soccer
UCF Knights women's soccer
Founded	1981; 44 years ago
University	University of Central Florida
Head coach	Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak (7th season)
Conference	Big 12
Location	Orlando, Florida
Stadium	UCF Soccer and Track Stadium ; (Capacity: 2,000)
Nickname	UCF Knights
Colors	Black and gold;
Home	Away
NCAA Tournament runner-up
	1982
NCAA Tournament Semifinals
	1982, 1987
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
	1982, 1984, 1987, 1988, 2011
NCAA Tournament appearances
	1982, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022
Conference Tournament championships
	1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2012, 2013
Conference Regular Season championships
	1993, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2022

The UCF Knights women's soccer program represents the University of Central Florida in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I. The Knights compete in the Big 12 Conference.^[2] UCF plays home games on its main campus in Orlando, Florida at the UCF Soccer and Track Stadium.^[3] The Knights are led by head coach and Olympic gold medalist Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak.^[4]

History

The Knights soccer program began in 1981 under Jim Rudy, who also started the men's soccer program at UCF in 1975.^[5] The Knights went 11–3–0 in their inaugural year, defeating Miami in their first match 20–0.^[6] Rudy led the Knights to the AIAW Finals in their first year. UCF faced North Carolina in the final AIAW Championship, falling 1–0.^[7] The Knights returned to the Finals in 1982, falling again to North Carolina 2–0 in the first NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament.^[7] The first two NCAA Tournaments were held at UCF.^[6]

In 1993, the team joined their first conference, the Trans America Athletic Conference (which became the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001), where they remained until joining Conference USA in 2005. In 2013, UCF joined the American Athletic Conference. In 30 seasons, the Knights have had a losing record only twice, and have earned a bid to 16 NCAA Tournaments, including 5 straight through 2011.^[6]^[8] UCF has earned more trips to the NCAA Tournament than any other Florida school.^[6] In 2011, the Knights became the first unseeded tournament team to defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels, who have won 20 NCAA Women's Soccer Championships.^[9] UCF defeated UNC 5–4 on penalty kicks in the Sweet Sixteen before falling 3–0 to Wake Forest in the Elite Eight.

Stadium

The Knights play their home games at the UCF Soccer and Track Stadium, part of Knights Plaza, on the north end of UCF's main campus in Orlando, Florida. The soccer field is made of natural grass and measures 347 feet (106 m) x 200 feet (61 m).^[10]

In 2011, the stadium was heavily renovated, boasting a 2,000-seat capacity with a new 1,475-seat stand, press box, 7,500 square feet (700 m²) clubhouse, restrooms and new entrance on the west side of the facility. The original 500-seat stand was retained as a visitors' stand.^[11]

Coaches

Tenure	Coach	Seasons	Record	Pct.
1981–1987	Jim Rudy	7	72–23–6	.713
1988–1992	Bill Barker	5	50–18–9	.649
1993–1998	Karen Richter	6	64–44–9	.547
1999–2012	Amanda Cromwell	14	204–83–26	.652
2013–present	Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak	7	89–35–16	.693
Totals	5 coaches	39 seasons	479–203–61	.686
Records are through the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Seasons

Season	Coach	Record		Notes
Season	Coach	Overall	Conference	Notes
Independent
1981	Jim Rudy	11–3–0	—	AIAW Finals
1982		10–1–2	—	NCAA Finals
1983		4–4–2	—
1984		10–4–0	—	NCAA Second Round
1985		9–3–1	—
1986		15–3–1	—
1987		13–5–0	—	NCAA Semifinals (Final Four)
1988	Bill Barker	10–3–2	—	NCAA Second Round
1989		11–1–2	—
1990		9–4–3	—
1991		10–5–1	—	NCAA First Round
1992		10–5–1	—
Trans America Athletic Conference/Atlantic Sun Conference
1993	Karen Richter	8–7–1	5–1–0	TAAC Regular Season Champions
1994		13–5–1	5–1–0	TAAC East Division and Tournament Champions
1995		10–7–4	6–1–1	TAAC East Division and Tournament Champions
1996		13–7–1	6–3–1	TAAC Tournament Champions
1997		8–10–2	6–0–0	TAAC South Division Champions
1998		12–8–0	4–0–0	TAAC East Division and Tournament Champions; NCAA First Round
1999	Amanda Cromwell	16–6–1	8–0–1	TAAC Regular Season and Tournament Champions; NCAA Second Round
2000		8–11–1	7–2–0
2001		14–6–0	9–1–0	A-Sun Regular Season and Tournament Champions; NCAA First Round
2002		18–5–0	10–1–0	A-Sun Regular Season and Tournament Champions; NCAA First Round
2003		16–5–1	9–1–0	A-Sun Regular Season and Tournament Champions; NCAA First Round
2004		17–4–2	8–2–0	NCAA Second Round
Conference USA
2005	Amanda Cromwell	12–10–0	8–1–0	C-USA Regular Season Champions
2006		11–6–2	7–1–1
2007		15–4–4	7–1–1	C-USA Regular Season Champions; NCAA Second Round
2008		14–6–3	7–2–2	NCAA Second Round
2009		17–5–1	10–1–0	C-USA Regular Season Champions; NCAA Second Round
2010		16–5–3	8–1–2	C-USA Regular Season Champions; NCAA Second Round
2011		13–5–6	6–2–3	NCAA Quarterfinals (Elite Eight)
2012		17–5–2	8–3–0	C-USA Tournament Champions; NCAA Second Round
American Athletic Conference
2013	Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak	16–3–4	8–0–1	American Regular Season and Tournament Champions; NCAA First Round
2014		18–5–0	8–1–0	American Regular Season Champions; NCAA Sweet 16
2015		12–6–2	6–3–0	NCAA First Round
2016		9–8–2	4–4–1
2017		13–2–3	7–0–2	American Regular Season Champions; NCAA First Round
2018		10–7–1	6–3–0
2019		11–4–4	5–2–2
Totals		479–203–61	196–38–20	743 games (.686)
Records are through the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Alumni

UCF has produced a number of notable soccer stars. Most notably, Michelle Akers, Amy Allmann and Kim Wyant.^[12] Akers and Wyant were founding players on the United States women's national soccer team from 1985 to 2000. Akers helped them win the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and 1999, and the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[13] Her career was so distinguished that Pelé named her among only two female players (along with teammate Mia Hamm) on the FIFA 100 list of the greatest living soccer players in 2004.^[13] In addition, Aline Reis, an All-American in her freshman year in 2008, was selected to the Brazil women's national football team for the first time in 2009, playing in a friendly against a local Brazilian team in July.^[6]^[14]