Skip to main content
Inside The Knights

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 UCF Women’s Soccer Team

The Knights, led by Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, look to overcome several key departures to follow up on their NCAA second-round appearance in 2025.
Bryson Turner|
UCF Athletics

The 2026-27 Athletic Year officially gets underway in Orlando on Thursday as the UCF Knights Women's Soccer team hosts their season opener against the Florida Gators.

After making it back to the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2022, coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak ended up losing several key contributors from that squad, from her primary attackers to her star goalkeeper. Now, the Knights are going to try and make it back to the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time in over a decade.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Knights for the 2026 season:

  1. Last Season
  2. This Season
  3. Who’s in Charge?
  4. What to Watch for
  5. Who’s New?
  6. Other Players to Watch
  7. Who We’ll Miss
  8. Who’s on the Roster?
  9. The Schedule
  10. The Last Time...

Last Season

12-4-5 (5-1-5 Big 12); Earned 1st NCAA Tournament Berth & Win Since 2022

Despite the Big 12 being the second-toughest women's soccer conference in the nation last season, the Knights were one of eight teams from the league to make it to the NCAA Tournament; and just like their last appearance in 2022, they made it to the second round before getting dispatched by a team that would go on to the College Cup. This time it was a 2-seed Duke squad that made it to the semifinals.

UCF's 12 wins were the most the program has earned in a single season since 2017.

Five Knights players earned All-Big 12 Honors. Forward Liz Worden was named to the first team, while the rest were named to the second team: goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson, forward Rajanah Reed and midfielders Honoka Hamano and Maria Tregansin.

This Season

Picked 8th in the Big 12

With only eight teams advancing to the Big 12 Tournament at regular season's end, the Knights getting selected to finish eighth in the conference standings in its preseason poll predicts they will be the last team in for it. However, given all eight of the teams that made the tournament last season were selected for the NCAA Tournament, the placement is at least a promising sign for Sahaydak and her team on their chance for more postseason soccer.

During UCF's fall sports media day, Sahaydak said it was her "expectation" that the Knights would reach the postseason after finishing in the top half of the Big 12.

Who’s in Charge?

Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak — 14th Season at UCF

After getting the Knights back to the NCAA Tournament in 2025, coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak was rewarded with a three-year contract extension, keeping her in Orlando for another few years.

The Knights are not the only soccer team Sahaydak is coaching, however. With preparations ramping up for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup, she is also going to be working on the coaching staff for Team USA under coach Emma Hayes. While Sahaydak has been called up as a coach for Team USA before, this time she is in a "little bit more forward-facing with the players" kind of role, she said.

However, Sahaydak also said that she would remain with the Knights as long as their season went, even with Team USA's first match in the CONCACAF W Championship coming on Nov. 27.

"It's a big job," Sahaydak said. "I'm essentially full-time with both staffs, and thankfully, full-time with the U.S. team doesn't mean you have to be located in one area. We do a lot of meetings via Zoom, so I could be here and be present, and then if I need to jump on a Zoom later today, I could do that."

Hear what Sahaydak had to say at UCF's Fall Sports Media Day below:

What to Watch for

  1. Goalkeeping: With Genesis Perez Watson's departure from the team over the summer, the Knights needed to hit the transfer portal to find their next goalkeeper and got one in Kaina Cesar from Lipscomb, who Sahaydak said was being recruited by top teams, but ended up choosing to come to Orlando.
  2. Who is going to score goals? With the players responsible for 19 of UCF's 30 goals departing the team during the offseason, the Knights are going to need new goal scorers to step up if they are to make another run to the NCAA Tournament.
  3. Stealing Big 12 Wins: The Knights are in for a gauntlet in the first half of their Big 12 schedule. Getting some wins, or even draws, against some of these teams could very well end up being crucial to their case for an NCAA Tournament bid.

Who’s New?

Goalkeeper Kaïna Cesar

Cesar is poised to take over as the Knights' new starting goalkeeper after receiving All-ASUN Third Team honors playing for Lipscomb last season. She also finished with the eighth-best goals-against average in the nation at 0.500, and her 90.9% save percentage was the third-best in the nation.

"Statistically, and what she's proven to do with Lipscomb, she was at a high level, and we liked that," Sahaydak said. "So, hopefully, she's bringing that here to UCF, but I also think we can get her to another level."

Forwards Naomi Clark and Alysiah Lockette

Clark and Lockette are the Knights' two additions from the transfer portal for their attack in 2026.

Clark scored seven goals in just 896 minutes playing for Oklahoma last season and was UCF's go-to shooter in their exhibition match against ASUN favorite Florida Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, Lockette scored three goals with three assists coming off the bench in all of her 22 matches with Baylor.

Defenders Bella Douglas and Carli Crews

On the back line, the Knights brought in a pair of defenders with over 1,000 minutes played last season: Bella Douglas and Carli Crews.

Douglas arrives by way of Boston College and has the capability of factoring in on the attack with three assists and six of her nine shots being on target last season.

While Crews did not get involved on offense in her redshirt freshman season with Memphis in 2025, she still started 13 matches at center back and played 1,234 minutes on the pitch.

Other Players to Watch

Midfielder Maria Tregansin

Back for another season as team captain, Maria Tregansin is the Knights' lone returner out of their five All-Big 12 honorees last season.

While not as much of a factor on offense, shooting the ball just five times and getting two assists, Sahaydak said she was the "perfect type of leader" for her team; the kind that "puts her head down and works."

"No season is given to you," Regansin said at the Knights' fall sports media day. "Even though we had a great season last year, that doesn't mean we'll automatically have a great season again. I believe we have the players to do it.

"I think we just need to keep persevering and find our identity as a team; as a new team."

Forward Payton Patrick

Payton Patrick's 2025 season ended before it began thanks to an injury, and with her final season at Charlotte in 2024 also getting cut short as well, she has not stepped onto the pitch in a college soccer match since Sep. 1, 2024.

However, before getting the injury bug, Patrick was an All-American Conference second teamer in 2023, and Sahaydak said she thought she was in contention to start last fall. Now healthy and back for a sixth season, she could also carve a role for herself on the attack for the Knights.

Defender Jada Silvest

Silvest has been a mainstay in the Knights' back line for the last two seasons and is back again in 2026 as a redshirt junior.

"I think having that feeling of making it to the second round has made us, like, even more excited for this season, and we have something like even bigger to prove, and I think we will," Silvest said at the Knights' fall sports media day.

Who We’ll Miss

Goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson

After playing for Costa Rica in the 2024 FIFA U20 Women's World Cup, which limited her redshirt freshman season to just six matches, Genesis Perez Watson broke out with the Knights in 2025.

She earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors after recording 90 saves, the most in a single season since 2008 and the fourth-most in the Big 12. She also finished with an 84.9% save percentage, the 20th-highest in the nation and second-highest in the Big 12, and a 0.762 goals-against average, the 42nd-best in the nation and third-best in the Big 12.

She even went out with a 15-save performance in the Knights' loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Duke, tying her for the fourth-most saves in a single match in program history, and the most saves in a single match by any UCF goalkeeper since 1999.

Perez Watson ended up turning professional, signing with Liga F's Atlético Madrid in July in a deal lasting through June 2029, a move whose timing led to Sahaydak needing to explore the transfer portal to find a new starter in goal.

"We didn't know Genesis was leaving until way into spring," Sahaydak said. "So, it was a very unfortunate time and a challenging time for us to know, 'Oh, Genesis wouldn't be with us.'"

Forwards Liz Worden and Rajanah Reed

Both Worden and Reed served as the main engines of the Knights' attack last season, accounting for half of their 30 goals. Worden alone even recorded 10 of their 34 assists, finishing third in the Big 12 and 17th in the nation in assists, while Reed finished second in the Big 12 and 41st in the nation with 56.6% of her shots being on goal.

Worden received All-Big 12 First Team and All-Midwest Region Second Team honors while Reed was named All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Midwest Region Fourth Team.

Worden has been playing overseas with Racing Power FC, a top-flight Portuguese club, since February, while Reed officially joined Dallas Trinity FC of the USL Super League last week.

Midfielder Honoka Hamano

If Worden and Reed were the Knights' two main offensive engines in 2025, Honoka Hamano was their third musketeer. She scored four goals last season, three of which were game-winners, and notched six assists. This helped her join Worden and Reed as the only UCF players last season to finish with double-digit points while also receiving All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Midwest Region Third Team honors.

Hamano ended up entering the transfer portal and is going to play for Georgia in 2026.

Who’s on the Roster?

  • 6 Seniors
  • 10 Juniors
  • 7 Sophomores
  • 4 Freshmen
  • 4 Floridians — 2 from Central Florida
  • 8 International players (Sweden, Brazil, Japan, Nigeria, Canada, France and Costa Rica)
2026 UCF Women's Soccer Roster
Made by Bryson Turner

The Schedule

After their last-second win over LSU in Orlando last season, the Knights are now the ones hitting the road to take on the No. 16-ranked Tigers this season for their marquee non-conference matchup. They are also hitting the road to face an FIU squad that upset them in Orlando last season.

As for UCF's Big 12 slate, it is a challenging first leg with No. 23 Texas Tech coming to Orlando to start following a road trip to face a BYU squad that received votes in the preseason top 25 poll. After concluding their trip to Utah against the Utes, the Knights face back-to-back Top 15-ranked teams, first hosting No. 13 Colorado, then traveling to take on TCU.

A road match against No. 20 West Virginia anchors the back half of the Knights' Big 12 slate, though it may present less room for error.

2026 UCF Women's Soccer Schedule
Made by Bryson Turner

The Last Time...

UCF Women's Soccer made it to the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons: 2007-2015.

Since this streak ended after the 2015 season, the Knights have only made the NCAA Tournament three times: 2017, 2022 and last season.

Check out more UCF sports news below:

The 2026 UCF Knights Olympic Sports Transfer Portal Tracker

Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 21 Ty Bartrum

Why UCF Losing Jamichael Stillwell Is Not As Bad As You Think

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published | Modified
Bryson Turner
BRYSON TURNER

Bryson Turner is a sports journalist who covers UCF Athletics. Turner has contributed to the Black and Gold Banneret, the home for UCF Athletics on SB Nation. He has called the Orlando area home since the age of 8 and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UCF.

Share on XFollow itsBrysonTurner
Home/Olympic Sports