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UCF Sweeps C-USA Awards, Ranked No. 17

Whidden, Reis pick up weekly honors by Conference USA after two home wins.

Sept. 14, 2009

Courtney Whidden earned her second-career C-USA weekly honor.ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Off to a 5-1-1 start and two wins over top-10 programs, the UCF women's soccer team received plenty of positive news Monday. Senior forward Courtney Whidden and sophomore goalkeeper Aline Reis swept the Conference USA weekly awards, while the Knights were ranked No. 17 in Soccer America's latest poll.

Whidden was selected as the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week in large part due to her double overtime game-winning goal vs. No. 4 Florida State in front of a UCF-record crowd of 1,142 Sept. 10. After that 1-0 victory over the Seminoles, Whidden came back to post three total shots in a 1-0 shutout of USF Sept. 13. For the season, Whidden has a team-high four goals and nine points, including two game-winners.

In her first games since recovering from an injury that kept her out for two matches, Reis returned in flawless fashion to earn C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors. The keeper totaled nine saves in the shutout of FSU, then made one stop on USF. Reis now has three shutouts for the 2009 campaign and a 1.07 goals-against average.

Between Reis and senior Lynzee Lee, who was the C-USA Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 7, the Knights have posted shutouts in four-straight matches and five overall in 2009.

Along with the win over the fourth-ranked Seminoles, UCF earlier collected a 3-2 win over then-No. 10 Duke Aug. 30. Its only loss this year came to No. 1 North Carolina while its tie was against LSU. With a 5-1-1 record against an extremely difficult non-conference schedule, Soccer America moved the Knights all the way to 17th in the country in this week's rankings.

The Knights are no stranger to the top 25 as they were ranked seven different times last year. The highest they climbed in 2008 was 18th. This season's ranking of No. 17 is the highest since they were 16th in the nation in 1992.

Although UCF has played several tough matches already, it has another one this weekend to prepare for. The Black and Gold heads to No. 12 South Carolina Friday for a road meeting at 7 p.m., and it will be its final non-conference match of the year.

UCF will come back home to open the C-USA schedule Sept. 25 vs. UAB and Sept. 27 against Memphis.