RV/No. 19 Tech, No. 25 UCF battle to 2-2 draw

Thursday, September 17

Orlando, FL

6 p.m. (CT)

Texas Tech Athletics

4-0-4, 0-0-1

No. 25 UCF

5-1-1, 0-0-1

Team	1	2	Final F
Texas Tech	1	1	2
UCF	1	1	2

Box Score (PDF)

RV/No. 19 Tech, No. 25 UCF battle to 2-2 draw

September 17, 2026 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF) Press Conference Highlights

Despite taking leads of 1-0 and 2-1, and outshooting UCF 19-4, Tech was forced to settle for one point in the Big 12 opener

By: Andrew Stern

ORLANDO – Despite surging ahead both 1-0 and 2-1, No. 19/RV Texas Tech was forced to settle for a 2-2 draw Thursday night against No. 25 UCF at the UCF Soccer Complex.

In its Big 12 Conference opener, Texas Tech (4-0-4, 0-0-1 Big 12) got off to a dream start when fifth-year senior Taylor Zdrojewski muscled her way to her fifth goal of the season, 31st career and her 13th all-time Big 12 goal.

After taking a strong sliding feed from freshman Lauren Alvarez, who recorded her first career point Thursday, Zdrojewski dropped UCFs (5-1-1, 0-0-1 Big 12) Carli Crews and slipped a low shot past Knights keeper Kaina Cesar midway through the 16th minute of play.

Less than five minutes from heading to the break with the lead and surviving an eighth first half without conceding a goal and 13th-straight first half since 2025, Tech ultimately conceded with just four minutes and 30 seconds to play in the period.

Despite outshooting the opponent 8-2, the Red Raiders went to the break locked in a tie.

After neither side was able to really threaten in the first nearly 15 minutes of the match, the Red Raiders again cashed in a strong Eleanor Hays free kick, when a rising service from Hays deflected off and through the hands of Cesar before finding the foot of sophomore Raleigh Greason who buried the rebound for her first goal of the 2026 season.

The helper for Hays was her third straight match with a free kick point and comes after the senior buried a similar service in the 3-0 win last Friday night against Kent State.

Hays also tallied a pair of shots in Thursday's contest playing the full 90 minutes.

Armed with the ever-important second goal and up 2-1, the Red Raiders were yet again unable to hold onto the lead when Katsi Benoga buried a rising shot past Tech's Addie Todd and into the net for UCFs second equalizer of the night.

The goal marked the first time since Oct. 23, 2025, that Tech has allowed two goals, a span of 13 matches and marked the first time Todd has conceded twice as a Red Raider.

Locked in a scoreless game, Tech continued to surge forward seeking the knockout punch. The Red Raiders nearly went up by a goal for a third time when in the 79th Raleigh Greason ripped a low line drive shot that Cesar was able to make an acrobatic kick save on.

That attempt combined with a Kylie Bahr middle of the 18 off-target shot provided the lone two chances for Tech to score following UCFs second, as the
Red Raiders for the fourth time in 2026 were forced to settle for a draw and saw a 29-match winning streak snapped when scoring twice.

Tech did however improve to 50-0-2 since 2022 when scoring twice and extended its unbeaten streak to 13 (6-0-7) dating back to the aforementioned Oct. 23 contest against then No. 22/7 Colorado in Boulder where Tech was defeated 3-0.

Despite enjoying a 19-4 shot advantage, the Red Raiders drew with UCF for the third-straight matchup (all since the Knights joined the Big 12 Conference).
Tonight's draw comes after Tech and UCF battled to a scoreless contest in Lubbock a season ago where the Red Raiders outshot the Knights 20-3. In 2023, Tech and UCF played to a 1-1 stalemate in Orlando after the Red Raiders conceded first before equalizing.

With the draw, Tech also moved its Big 12 opener unbeaten streak to eight-straight (4-0-4) dating back to a 2-0 loss in 2018 against West Virginia.

Tech also extended a 25-match unbeaten streak to 26 when scoring at least once (19-0-7). That streak dates back to a 2024 loss to Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament Semifinals in Kansas.

The Red Raiders 13-match unbeaten streak is tied with St. Mary's (CA) for the second-longest active unbeaten in the country.

UNCW have the longest unbeaten streak in the nation that spans 19 matches dating back to a Sept. 12, 2025, loss to Western Carolina. The Seahawks open Colonial Athletic Association play Sunday against Hampton, while St. Mary's travel to Logan to face No. 18 Utah State on Sunday.

HEAD COACH TOM STONE:
"Well there's performance and then there's results. The performance tonight was very good for long stretches of time. UCF is a team that is ranked ahead of us in some polls and the match tonight wasn't really close for most of it. But the thing that made it close were two pieces of really extraordinary final third play from UCF. Both their goals were quality and you can't deny that. They only really had two chances, and both went in. We had 19 shots, eight on target so there's all the stat reasons to feel good about it, but certainly we don't feel good about leaving here with a draw. Not when you play as well as we did and have come as far as we have. We were not capable of that performance six weeks ago. So we are happy that's where we are today and came to a place that this hot and humid and playing a top-ranked team, and we played as well as we did. I was particularly proud of the press in the first half and the goals that we did score. But it was three points that we lost two of, that we should have had. It's no disrespect to UCF because the goals they scored were quality and they earned the draw fair and square. But it doesn't leave us with a great taste in our mouth."

On the disappointment of allowing two equalizers:
"When we've scored two goals we've won 50 of our last 52, but tonight we let them back in twice. Again, UCF earned it but we have to look at it like we let them back in twice which is not really part of our standard or tradition. That's the downside of it. The determination factor has to outweigh the frustration factor because the frustration is real to not get three points here after playing like that. And after having nearly 20 shots and eight on goal. But the determination needs to go up a notch, so when we have the lead the other teams feels like man we can't get back into this. And Tiff and Tim did a good job of going direct and putting us under pressure. But it shouldn't have been enough with how we played and with a 2-1 lead. We should have been able to hold onto it."

UP NEXT:
With the road point secured, Tech will turn its attention to next Thursday's Big 12 home opener against Cincinnati. First touch from Ft. Walker is set for 7 p.m. The contest against Cincy will start a three-game homestand for Tech that also includes matchups with No. 15/9 Colorado (Sept. 28) and Arizona State (Oct. 2).