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Women's Soccer Stuns #4 UNC in Extra Time

Golden Goal Helps Knights Kick Tar Heels

The UCF Women's Soccer Team celebrates Christine Creighton's golden goal that knocked off #4 North Carolina at the UCF Track and Soccer Complex on August 25th, 2017 (Photo: Jeff Sharon)
The UCF Women's Soccer Team celebrates Christine Creighton's golden goal that knocked off #4 North Carolina at the UCF Track and Soccer Complex on August 25th, 2017 (Photo: Jeff Sharon)

Christine Creighton's second career goal was one she'll never forget. She slammed home a bouncing loose ball and gave UCF Women's Soccer its first-ever win over #4 North Carolina:

After falling behind 1-0 2:24 into the match, the Knights got an equalizer from Dina Orschmann ten minutes later:

Then the stalemate continued through regulation and one overtime, and into a second.

That's when Creighton corraled the ball just inside the box and ripped it into the net to end it in the 105th minute.

The immediate reaction:

A few extra thoughts on last night:

History Repeats Itself

This was eerily similar to the Knights' victory over Florida State eight years ago. In that game:

  • UCF won on a golden goal
  • In the second overtime
  • Against an ACC opponent
  • That was ranked #4 in the nation

Courtney Whidden put away the winner that night on a free kick from Becca Thomas:

That team went on to a 17-5-1 record and a second-round appearance in the NCAA, but that win was the springboard for an incredible run that culminated in the Knights' NCAA Elite Eight appearance in 2011.

Support Matters

One of the most encouraging things last night was the fan support that came out on a rainy night, led by the players and coaches from other sports:

It's not that sports did not support other sports in the past. They did. But the level of buy-in up and down the entire athletic department, from the coaches to the players, was the most we've seen in a long time.

This is something for which we've been clamoring for a long time, and to see it come to fruition is a tribute to Danny White and the new attitude he has instilled at UCF.

Tiff's Signature Win

No doubt about it: This is Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak's signature win at UCF. And she's had some big ones.

But knocking off North Carolina, her alma mater, coached by her former head coach Anson Dorrance, their #4 ranking and decades of history, has to be at the top.

That's something when you're a 99er. But the job she has done coaching in the first three games - Getting her team to fight through playing with 10 through 75 minutes on the road at South Carolina and making a game out of it, coming back two days later to throttle Stetson, and then withstanding UNC in two overtimes - has been masterful.

Hopefully the roll can continue as the Knights travel out to the desert to face Arizona and Arizona State back-to-back next weekend.