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No. 16 Central Florida Survives 8-7 Versus No. 17 Boston College in National Collegiate Club 11th Place Game
DAVIS, Calif. -- Nicole Chavez (Fr., Miami, Fla.), Stefanie Clark (Fr., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) and Annaliese Bullock (Sr., Miami, Fla.) each scored two goals, and Blaire Martin (Jr., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) made eight saves to earn Player of the Game honors as No. 16-nationally ranked University of Central Florida ousted No. 17 Boston College 8-7 in the 11th place and final game of the 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship at UC-Davis.
Making their first National Collegiate Club Championship appearance after knocking off eight-time Southeast Division champion University of Florida, the Lady Knights of UCF trailed for a total of 93 seconds in the game.
Trailing 2-1 after the first period, the Eagles of BC pulled even on an exclusion score by Kristina Norrgard (Fr., Greenwich, Conn.) at the 5:44 mark of the second period. Boston College went ahead 3-2 with 4:26 left in the first half as Mackenzie Campbell (So., Foster City, Calif.) stuck a lob shot behind Martin for the Eagles' first lead of the day.
The Lady Knights struck back at the 3:23 mark with a breakaway goal by Chavez to even the scoring at 3-3, but the Eagles soared out to another one-goal advantage as Allison Samluk (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) and her teammates worked the ball around before uncorking a shot for a man-up goal with 2:47 left in the half.
Facing the potential of entering the break in scoring debt, Central Florida cashed in with an outside shot by Stephanie Beauchemin (Sr., Sanford, Fla.) which found the upper left 90 of the cage with 2:17 showing on the clock for a 4-4 tie at the break.
The Lady Knights tacked on two more goals after intermission as Karina Rojas (Jr., Miami, Fla.) and Clark lobbed shots over the head of Boston College netminder Lia Breuning (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) with 4:29 and 2:42, respectively, left in the third period to take a 6-4 lead.
UCF's scoring spurt would prove crucial to the eventual outcome of the game as Campbell got one of the goals back for the Eagles with a breakaway score at the 1:49 mark. Needing another score and a defensive stop to equal the Lady Knights before halftime, the Eagles received neither as Bullock ripped an outside shot into the twine to give UCF a 7-5 advantage entering the final seven minutes of play.
The key to the final period was a goal by Bullock with 2:30 left on the game clock for the eventual game-winner, two saves by Martin down the stretch and a little luck as the Lady Knights held on for the single-goal win.
Ahead by three at 8-5 with the clock winding down, the Lady Knights saw their lead begin to dwindle away as Samluk connected on an advantage goal at 1:51 and Lisa Stebbins (So., Portsmouth, R.I.) registered a breakaway goal with 37 seconds left in regulation.
However, Martin made a spot to keep UCF in front as the Lady Knights were able to run out the clock and hang on for the victory.
In cage, Lia Breuning (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) made seven saves for BC to help her team finish 12th in the final tournament standings, a one place improvement over the Eagles' 13th place mark at the 2008 National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Oregon last year.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| No. 17 Boston College | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| No. 16 University of Central Florida | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
UCF Goals: Nicole Chavez (2); Stefanie Clark (2); Annaliese Bullock (2); Stephanie Beauchemin; Karina Rojas
BC Goals: Mackenzie Campbell (2); Kristina Norrgard (2); Allison Samluk (2); Lisa Stebbins
Saves: UCF - Blaire Martin (8) ; BC - Lia Breuning (7)
Ejections: UCF - 7 ; BC - 2
Sprints: UCF - None ; BC - 4 (Torie
Pascoe - 1st, 3rd, 4th; Kristina Norrgard - 2nd)
