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CINCINNATI - In need of points to help reach the post season, the University of Cincininati women's soccer team picked up three huge points Thursday night in Orlando, Fla., as the Bearcats handed the host UCF Knights a 2-0 defeat in American Athletic Conference action at the UCF Soccer-Track & Field Complex. Vanessa Gilles and Julie Gavorski each found the back of the net while Natalie Smith led the defense to UC's eighth shutout of the season to help the Bearcats to a 10-4-2 overall record with a 3-2-1 (10 pts) mark in the league. The Knights slipped to 7-7-1 on the year with a 2-3-1 (7 pts) conference record.
"I am really happy for the players and staff that we got a great win (on the road) against a talented UCF team," Stafford said following his side's 10th victory of the season. "We had a game plan and, although it wasn't pretty at times, I felt we really imposed our style. Performances and results are starting to match up and that has been a really good confidence builder for the players. I thought we did a great job making UCF uncomfortable all night. We did a great job dragging UCF's defense out of position and that created gaps and opportunities for us during the match. Overall, a solid team performance. Now, it is time to get ready for a very good USF (team) on Sunday."
The win give UC 10 victories on the season and marks the third year in a row that the Bearcats have tallied double-digit wins in a season. Historically, this is the fourth time in program history the Bearcats have posted three or more 10-win seasons in a row and the first time since 2000-02. The win also is the 40th of Stafford's career with UC since taking the reigns at the start of the 2013 campaign.
// FIRST HALF
The Knights opened the match with the ball and controlled the action early on, registering five shots to zero for the Bearcats in the first 15 minutes of play. In the 2', UCF took a quick shot from distance that was easily caught by Natalie Smith before another shot in one minute later was blocked and cleared by Gilles. In the 15', the Bearcats finally got into the shot column as Julie Gavorski collected a loose ball, turned and let it fly from 25 yards out, but the shot sailed wide and high.
Gilles and Kayla Utley both took over in the following 15 minutes of action as both were in position to clear several passes and block a pair of shots to keep the Knights off the board. The Bearcats continued to build momentum and drew a corner kick in the 25', but Taylor Pavlika's pass into the box at the near post was just out of the reach of an on-rushing UC player and cleared away. Two minutes later, Pavlika played a free kick in from distance and, just before UC could get a head on it, UCF keeper Vera Varis punched it away to keep things level.
Both teams took to firing shots from distance with no real threats emerging until the 43' of play. UC earned another corner kick and Pavlika again took the ball, playing it to the back post where Gilles was rushing in. The junior defender found the perfect spot and headed the ball past the keeper and into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season while Pavlika garnered her third assist to put the Bearcats on top, 1-0, with just under two minutes remaining in the opening half.
// SECOND HALF
After scoring the first goal of the match with under two minutes to play in the first half, the Bearcats wasted little time in striking for a second time, this time seeing Gavorski power home her eighth goal of the year just four minutes into the second stanza. After earning a throw in deep in the offensive third, Pavlika launched a throw in deep into the box where it bounced around off a trio of bodies before coming to rest at the feet of Gavorski who, from 15 yards out, turned and ripped a shot into the lower right corner of the netting to push the visitor's advantage to 2-0. The score was Gavorski's third in the past two matches after she netted a pair against SMU Sunday.
The Knights looked to get back into the match in the 54' and nearly pulled one back as Courtney O'Connell broke free toward the UC goal and fired a shot that just went over the outstretched arm of Smith and over the crossbar, leaving the Bearcats in front, 2-0. In the 67', O'Connell had another solid chance as she redirected a low cross inside the box, only to see it carom off the crossbar and back into play, leaving the Knights off the scoreboard.
Three minutes later, rookie Alex Stubblebine, a native Floridian, stole the ball and drove toward the UCF goal where she took aim and fired a shot with it sliding just wide of the net. That shot set off an offensive frenzy that saw the visitors take four more shots to the host's one as the Bearcats held on to the shutout the rest of the way. Another UC rookie, Dee Picou, also had a stellar chance in the 78' as she also stole a pass, drove toward the goal and ripped a shot from 20 yards out only to see it trickle wide of the target.
// CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS
Looking at the results from around the conference Thursday night, UC, USF, Memphis and Tulsa all won and each added three points to their totals with UConn (16), Memphis (15), SMU (13), Tulsa (12), UC (10) and USF (10) all among the Top 6 in the standings, the cut off for berths into the conference tournament. With three matches remaining this season for the Bearcats (at USF, vs. UConn, vs. Temple), all points will go a long way in getting UC back into the post season, where they won the tournament in 2015 as the #4 seed.
// NOTES
The Bearcats improved to 10-4-2 overall on the season and 3-2-1 in the American Athletic Conference. With 10 points, the
With the victory, UC has now won two in a row in the series with the Knights for the first time in the history of the series and leveled the all-time standings at 3-3-1. The win also is the first for the Bearcats in Orlando, snapping a three-match skid on UCF's home turf.
The Bearcats now have 10 victories on the year, giving the program double-digit wins for the third year in a row under Neil Stafford. It marks just the fourth time in program history (since 1980) that the Bearcats have won 10 or more matches in three or more seasons in a row and the first since it was done in three consecutive seasons from 2000 to 2002.
The 2-0 win extends UC's undefeated streak to three in a row (2-0-1) and marks the second time this year the Bearcats have posted a trio of shutouts in a row.
Natalie Smith recorded her eighth clean sheet of the season, tying her for the fourth-most in a single season in program history. With 19.2 career shutouts
// UPCOMING
UC will play its final regular season road contest of 2016 Sunday afternoon as the Bearcats travel to Tampa for a 1 p.m. showdown with USF. The match with the Bulls, which is a rematch of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Tournament final that ended in a 1-1 draw with UC winning on penalty kicks, will be streamed live by the American Digital Network.
// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
GoBearcats.com is your one-stop destination for all things UC Athletics. Socially, the team can be followed on Facebook (GoBearcatsWSOC), Twitter (@GoBearcatsWSOC) and Instagram (GoBearcatsWSOC). Head Coach Neil Stafford (@UCGaffer) also can be followed on Twitter.
// EXPERIENCE UC
The University of Cincinnati department of athletics announced an initiative entitled Experience UC, geared toward inviting the community to campus to see firsthand the great things about and surrounding the university. Experience UC includes complimentary admission for patrons attending women's basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, swimming and diving and track and field home events.