Ucf Knights Tickets

UCF Knights
The UCF Knights is the name given to the many intercollegiate athletics teams at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The UCF Knights compete in the NCAA's Division I Conference USA. The men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country running, football, golf, soccer, and tennis. Women's sports include basketball, cross country running, golf, rowing, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Co-ed sports include cheerleading.

The UCF varsity athletic program began when the university entered the NCAA Division III in 1979. It later moved to NCAA Division II in 1982 and Division I in 1990. Initially, UCF was a I-AA college football school, and remained independent till 1992 when it joined the Trans-Atlantic Athletic Conference (TAAC) in all D-I sports except football. Football continued to remain independent. In 1996, UCF advanced to I-A in football and in 2001 joined the Mid-American Conference as a football only member. That same year the TAAC became known as the Atlantic Sun Conference. UCF joined Conference USA in all sports, including football, in 2005.

UCF sports teams were originally known as the Knights of the Pegasus since 1970 when they had their first intercollegiate sports competitions. In 1993, they renamed their teams the Golden Knights in an effort to improve poor merchandise sales. The UCF sports mascot is a black knight with gold armor called Knightro. The university is commonly referred to as Central Florida by television networks and other media, but has requested that they be referred to as UCF. However, their request has received some resistance with compares and journalists often making jokes about it, unlike schools such as the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV) have not received the same treatment.

Football at UCF
In its short NCAA history as compared to other schools, UCF has had some measure of success, producing NFL stars such as Daunte Culpepper and Asante Samuel, among others.The football team was first coached by Don Jonas who was initially hired as a volunteer in 1979. Gene McDowell officially took over as head coach and UCF's athletic director in 1985. During McDowell's time, the football team was a I-AA playoff team in 1990 and 1993. In 1996, the program made its way into Division I-A. McDowell was forced to resign in 1998 after a cell phone scandal and offensive coordinator Mike Kruzcek was replaced as head coach. That same year, star player Culpepper led UCF to its best season in its football history with a 9-2 record and losses only against to Purdue and Auburn.

Men's Basketball
UCF began playing intercollegiate basketball much before their teams were even named. While playing in Division II, they achieved great success with the help of Torchy Clark, making an appearance in the final four. In 1994, UCF moved to Division I in basketball and since then, under the leadership of coach Kirk Speraw, has advanced to the NCAA tournament 4 times in the years 1994, 1996, 2004 and 2005. UCF's basketball team also competed in the Atlantic Sun Conference (formerly called the Trans American Athletic Conference) until 2005 when all sports joined Conference USA. Its team plays its home matches at the UCF Arena, and is expected to move into a new expansion for the 2007-08 season. After UCF joined Conference USA in 2005, it made its basketball debut in the Conference USA Championship Tournament in season 2006. However, they were defeated by Houston in the second round and closed the season with the program's first losing record of (14-15) since the 2000-01 season. The following season the Knights made a major comeback by finishing 2nd in the conference after being defeated by Memphis.

Baseball
UCF plays its basketball matches at the Jay Bergman Field stadium that has a permanent seating capacity of 1,000, but which easily doubles with the addition of temporary seating. The stadium was inaugurated on February 3, 2001 and named in honor of current baseball coach Jay Bergman Field, whose career is marked by championships, NCAA appearances and consistent Top 25 rankings. Its baseball team has participated on and off, a total of eight times in the Atlantic Sun Championships since 1993. It has also made nine NCAA Regional Appearances since 1989 and its highest national ranking ever was number 8 in 2001.

Soccer
Both UCF's men's and women's soccer teams have produced a number of soccer stars, most notably, Michelle Akers, who went on to play in the Olympics and was a part of the 1999 USA National Team that won the World Cup. From the men's soccer program - midfielder Eric Vasquez, who now plays for Miami F.C. in the United Soccer Leagues' First Division and former Golden Knights Goalkeeper, Ryan McIntosh, who signed a development deal with D.C. United of Major League Soccer. Both players were members of the 2004 Central Florida Kraze amateur soccer team that won the Premier Development League's championship after defeating the Boulder Rapids Resevers, 1-0 at the UCF soccer stadium.