The biggest game of the year for the UCF women’s soccer team happens to be its opening game of the 2010 season. This Sunday at the UCF Soccer Complex the No. 25 Knights host No. 11 Florida at 7 p.m. in the first meeting between the two teams since 2008.

That season the teams split two games as UCF won 1-0 then fell 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament.

Sunday’s game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Florida.

Whether playing in front of cameras or against Top-25 competition, the Knights embrace the early challenges as they’ve credited such a schedule for preparing them for when it matters most.

“We’ve shown people the last couple of years who we are and what we’re about,” said UCF Coach Amanda Cromwell, who is 158-68-15 since 1994 and was named 2009 Conference USA and Central Region Coach of the Year.

Florida has had to take notice as of late. The series between the two schools is tied at 2-2-1 since 2004 with the Gators holding the all-time series lead at 2-10-1.

“It’s Florida, and we love to hate the Gators,” said Cromwell with a laugh. “It’s always a rivalry in-state, whether it’s Florida, Florida State, Miami. You always get up more for those than other non-conference games.”

The Knights are coming off a 17-5-1 season in which they were ranked as high as No. 8 and finished with a 43-20 advantage in goals scored. UCF also reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, making it the 14th appearance in the postseason overall, which is good for the most trips by any program in the state.

What’s changed since then though is the loss of Courtney Whidden and Becca Thomas to graduation. Whidden is No. 2 all-time at UCF in game-winning goals (13), No. 6 in career goals (33) and No. 8 in total points (77) while Thomas ranks No. 4 in all-time assists (29) and No. 5 in both game-winning goals (10) and shots (198).

Yet Cromwell and her staff have shown to have little trouble reloading year after year. It’s that consistency in recruiting that Cromwell says has been vital to the program’s success.

“We have the talent to play with anybody in the country,” she said.

And they’ve done a pretty good job at finding some decent talent, no matter the country.

While players from the state of Florida make up more than half of the UCF roster, including projected starters in sophomore forward Tishia Jewell and junior midfielder Katie Jackson (both out of Satellite High School), as well as senior forward Kim Newsome from Apopka, they’ve been searching far and wide for the next great Knight.

Among them has been junior goalkeeper Aline Reis out of Brazil, defender Bianca Joswiak from Germany, and redshirt sophomore Andrea Rodrigues, who hails from St. Petersburg and played for the Portugal Women’s National Team in a FIFA World Cup qualifier this past summer after suffering a season-ending injury in 2009.

Reis, whom Cromwell says has a “field player’s mentality in the goal” earned All-American status as a freshman and is the 2010 C-USA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. She ranks No. 5 at UCF in career saves (189) and No. 6 in goals-against average (1.12) after stopping 82 shots in 2009 and 107 as a freshman.

“She tactically is very strong, she reads the game,” said Cromwell. “Even though she is short in stature, she plays big. We’ve had keepers five inches taller than her that get beat on balls overhead that she doesn’t get beat on.”

The Knights will be looking for every player on the roster to play big this weekend as they take aim at getting another season of high hopes underway, with a little dose of bragging rights on the line to boot.

And they’d have it no other way.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –