Colorado College Athletics

The University of Central Florida used a pair of perfectly executed set pieces on Sunday to accomplish what no other visiting team has done at Stewart Field this season.

Christina Petrucco’s header of a corner kick by Becca Thomas with 2:17 left in overtime found the back of the net and lifted the Knights to a 2-1 sudden-death victory over Colorado College in a key Conference USA match. The loss ended a 10-game winning streak at home for CC.

Thomas also set up UCF’s first goal, on another corner kick, in the 29th minute of play. She placed the ball into a seam in the Tiger defense outside the box, where Hanna Wilde was able to one-time a rising shot inside the far post and past freshman keeper Caitlin Hulyo.

Petrucco’s dramatic game winner came against senior keeper Geneva Sills, who entered the contest with two minutes remaining in regulation after Hulyo was forced to leave with an injury.

Colorado College, which dropped to 10-4-1 overall and 4-2 in C-USA, grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Kelly LaVoie stole the ball from a Knights defender and soloed in alone to beat freshman keeper Aline Reis from 22 yards away just 3:36 into the game.  

The Tigers came close to winning the game after a couple corner kicks of their own in the final minute of the first overtime period. But, with the ball bouncing around loose in the UCF box and Aline well out of position, they just couldn’t slam it through traffic.

The Knights improved to 8-3-3 overall and 3-1-2 in league play. CC, meanwhile, remains in a tie for second place in the Conference USA standings but lost ground on league leading East Carolina University, which beat SMU 2-1 on Sunday.