Knight Cap: Two Seasons End, Two AAC Championships Close In

This week in UCF Knights sports, as two teams’ seasons come to an end, another two teams anticipate their conference tournaments, and conference honors abound. Plus, we name the Knight of the Week and Knights Play of the Week in your Knight Cap for Thursday, May 11, 2023.

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Women’s Golf Postseason ends in Palm Beach Gardens

The UCF Women’s Golf team’s season came to an end Wednesday after it was unable to advance out of the Palm Beach Gardens Regional.

The Knights finished seventh after three rounds at 891 (27-over par), 12 strokes back of fifth place, which they needed to reach in order to advance.

UCF was led by junior Jess Baker, who finished in a tie for sixth overall at 217 (1-over par). Joining her in the Top 20, freshman Pimpisa Sisutham came in a tie for 19th at 221 (5-over par).

For the full results from the NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional, check out golfstat.com.

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Baseball Drops Two Ohio Midweek Games

The UCF Baseball began its five-game stay in Ohio with two losses on back-to-back days against Ohio State and Wright State.

On Tuesday, the Knights lost a pitching staff dual to the Buckeyes, 2-0. UCF played shut-out baseball for eight innings, it was just that they were the last eight innings. Ohio State’s two-run first inning was all it needed.

Combined, the Knights pitching staff allowed three hits and eight walks and struck out seven.

Only 2B Tom Josten had a multi-hit night, going 2-3 at the plate.

The UCF offense had much better fortunes against Wright State on Wednesday night, but fell short, 11-7.

1B Nick Romano led the way for the Knights, going 3-4 at the plate with three RBIs. Two of these hits included a 2-RBI triple and a solo home run that was the 90th overall for the team this season, breaking the tie with 2019 Tulane to stand alone with the AAC record for the most home runs in a single season.

UCF was up by as large a margin as 5-1 heading into the fourth inning. However, Wright State battled back with a seven-run sixth inning that gave it the lead for the rest of the game.

Knights pitchers gave up 11 runs on 11 hits and nine walks. They also struck out eight.

UCF will remain in Ohio through the weekend as it plays its conference series against Cincinnati starting at 5 p.m. on Friday.

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Women’s Tennis Bounced in NCAA 1st Round

The UCF Women’s Tennis team’s season came to an end Saturday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after a 4-1 loss to Georgia Tech.

Despite the Knights coming away with the doubles point, the Yellow Jackets took four consecutive singles matches to take the match.

A few days later, the American Athletic Conference handed down its annual awards, and seniors Marie Mattel and Nandini Sharma were named to the All-Conference team.

Mattel, whose selection was unanimous, will have the chance to compete at least one more time this season with a spot in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship at the USTA National Campus starting on May 22.

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Softball Survive and Advances

The UCF Softball team got off to a rough start at the American Athletic Conference Tournament, going down 4-0 to start their quarterfinal match against Memphis.

However, the Knights were able to come back and score seven unanswered runs to take the win, 7-4, to advance to the semifinals.

SS Jasmine Williams put the Knights on top with a two-run go-ahead home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. DP Aubrey Evans added a couple of insurance runs with a 2-RBI single in the same inning.

In the circle, Sarah Willis, the AAC’s Pitcher of the Year and unanimous All-Conference First Team selection, got the win in relief, pitching five innings and allowing one run on two hits and four walks.

Willis was also one of eight players on the UCF Softball team received honors from the American Athletic Conference on Wednesday.

Joining Willis on the All-Conference First Team are C Jada Cody, 1B Shannon Doherty, 2B Micaela Macario, and OF Kennedy Searcy. It is Cody’s third consecutive time getting selected to the First Team and Searcy’s second.

The Knights lead the conference with five players selected to the First Team.

Meanwhile, three more Knights, all newcomers, got selected to the All-Conference Second Team: IF Jasmine Williams, OF Chloe Evans, and DP/U Aubrey Evans.

Additionally, Aubrey Evans was selected for the All-Rookie team.

The Knights will face USF in the semifinals of AAC Tournament on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

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Three Men’s Tennis Players Receive AAC Season Honors

The UCF Men’s Tennis team had three players receive annual honors from the American Athletic Conference on Monday.

Senior Bogdan Pavel was named to the AAC All-Conference Doubles team for the third time in his career, though this season it was the first time alongside fellow senior Lleyton Cronje.

The duo will compete together once more on May 23 in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Doubles Championship at the USTA National Campus.

Pavel and Cronje were joined by freshman Yassine Dlimi on the AAC All-Conference singles team.

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Track and Field Enters AAC Championship No. 21 in the nation

The UCF Track and Field team will enter the American Athletic Conference Championship ranked No. 21 in the USTFCCA rankings.

The ranking means the team will have spent the entire regular outdoor season in the Top 25 in the nation.

The team will get underway in the AAC Championship in Tampa on Friday at 11 a.m.

Hear from Rayniah Jones, HC Dana Boone, and Jasmine Scott-Kilgo as they prep for the Championship below:

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Knight of the Week

Yassine Dlimi, Men’s Tennis

After an 11-5 campaign in singles play, Yassine Dlimi became the first Knight to win AAC Freshman of the Year since Inaki Espindola in 2014.

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Knights Play of the Week

1B Nick Romano hits HR #90