[UCF] UCF, which reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Women's Tournament last season for the first time since 1987, earned a 2-2 tie at unbeaten Boston College on Sunday, justifying the confidence of the Knights coach Amanda Cromwell in the ability of her players to get a result against a big-time team.

“It was important to get a result, so our girls have that confidence,” Cromwell said. “Last night, one of the things I said to them was, ‘When you walk up to the plate, are you going to hit a home run or strike out?’ Today we talked about getting a result. We definitely had our ups and downs – we came from behind, we took the lead, we tied again -- and we might not have hit the home run, but we played well enough to win and that’s important. In the end, we battled to get the result. It was a great game for the fans.”

Boston College struck first on a goal by Kristen Mewis from 22 yards away to go ahead at the half.
 
UCF pulled even in the 68th minute when Nicolette Radovcic scored a give-and-go exchange with Bianca Joswiak. Less than four minutes later, senior Tishia Jewell found Kristina Trujic, who managed to elude two defenders and scored from the top of the box to give the Knights a 2-1 edge.
 
But BC (5-0-2) equalized with less than 10 minutes to play in regulation when Kate McCarthy scored on a rebound off Mewis’ free kick.

UCF should again be an NCAA Tournament contender. The returned eight starters from the team that lost to Wake Forest in the 2011 quarterfinals and will soon have freshman defender Sophie Howard, who played for runner-up Germany at the Under-20 Women's World Cup.
 
A perennial Conference-USA contender, UCF will move to the Big East in 2013.

Sept. 9 in Newton, Mass.
Boston College 2 UCF 2. Goals: Mewis 17, McCarthy (Mewis) 81; Radovcic (Joswiak) 69, Trujic (Jewell) 72.
Boston College -- Gaul, DiMartino, Morrison, Bernard, McCaffrey, Wagner, Vettori, Mewis, Lombard, McCarthy, Davitt. Subs: Woeltz, Payne, Jeffrey, Blose, Meehan.
UCF -- Maldonado, Nicol, Goodall, Diggs, Jewell, Williams, Trujic, Joswiak, Rodrigues, Barney, Radovcic. Subs: Martin, Townsend, Fish, Crane, Murchie, Organ.
Att.: 335.
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