HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Tess Buccarelli (Hollywood, Fla.) scored three times as No. 16-ranked/Southeast Division Championship runner-up the University of Central Florida exploited a 5-0 first half to outlast Division III No. 3/North Atlantic Division Champion the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 8-3, during an evening consolation game at the 2022 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship.
Competing at the Huntsville Aquatics Center, the Lady Knights punched their ticket to a 2:50 p.m. game on Saturday, May 7, against the victor of a consolation game pitting No. 19/Mid-Atlantic Division Champion Pennsylvania State University and No. 8/Southwest Division runner-up Arizona State University. The winner of UCF’s next game will compete for Ninth Place on Sunday, May 8, while the loser squares off for 11th place in the final 16-team championship standings.
Due to the loss, MIT will see its season draw to a close at 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, as the Engineers will duke it out with the fallen from the Penn State-vs.-Arizona State contest in a 13th-15th place game. Due to time limitations, the 13th and 15th place positions at the National Collegiate Club Championship are not played out as the winners and losers of the final two games on the second evening of the championship tie for 13th and 15th place, respectively.
Both teams got out of the gates slow as a marker by UCF’s Alexandra Konvalina (Orlando, Fla.) with 6:01 on the clock was the lone damage inflicted during the first quarter.
The Lady Knights’ offense awoke in the second quarter as Madeline Ayres (Jupiter, Fla.), Buccarelli, Konvalina and Toriana Thind (Orlando, Fla.) ticked off tallies at the 5:54, 5:24, 4:55 and 35 seconds marks, respectively, to provide Central Florida a 5-0 lead at the midway point of the contest.
Buccarelli added some insurance in the third quarter with consecutive strikes at 4:22 and 3:44 to expand the margin to 7-0.
Sophie Reynolds (So., Palo Alto, Calif.) broke up a shutout bid by UCF netminder Samantha Horency (Orlando, Fla.) with 1:11 to go in the third quarter as the second-year converted on a man-up chance to inch the Engineers back to within 7-1 heading into the final seven minutes of regulation.
Soumya Kannan (Gr., Palo Alto, Calif.) shaved MIT’s deficit down to 7-2 with exactly four minutes left in the fourth quarter before Elaina Butler (Orlando, Fla.) (26 seconds) and Danielle Fang (Sr., Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) (four seconds) exchanged goals for the Engineers and Lady Knights to establish the 8-3 final score.
For Central Florida, Buccarelli (three) and Konvalina (two) notched multi-goal games with Thind, Ayres and Butler each chipping in single scores. Horency earned the win in cage with two saves.
Fang, Reynolds and Kannan accounted for MIT’s offense in support of a seven save performance by netminder Shannon Moreno (Gr., Fullerton, Calif.).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 16 University of Central Florida |
1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | – | 8 |
| Division III No. 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 |
| MIT Goals: | Danielle Fang; Sophie Reynolds; Soumya Kannan | |||||
| UCF Goals: | Tess Buccarelli (3); Alexandrea Konvalina (2); Toriana Thind; Madeline Ayres; Elaina Butler | |||||
| Saves: | MIT – Shannon Moreno (7) ; UCF – Samantha Horency (2) | |||||
| Exclusions: | MIT – 1 ; UCF – 5 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | MIT – 1-for-5 ; UCF – 0-for-1 | |||||
| Sprints: | MIT – 1-for-4 (4th) ; UCF – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 3rd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Brandon Nicholson; Dustin Devaney | |||||
University of Central Florida’s Tess Buccarelli (#13) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Ria Sonecha (#2)
University of Central Florida’s Toriana Thind (#8) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sophie Reynolds (#10)
The University of Central Florida’s Madeline Ayres (#14) shoots on Massachusetts Institute of Technology goalkeeper Shannon Moreno (#1)
