Aug. 28 Men's Soccer Notebook
Aug. 28, 2006
Complete Men's Soccer Notebook in PDF Format
The 2006 Conference USA season got off to a good start in the opening weekend with No. 2 SMU, Kentucky and Memphis off to 2-0 starts. SMU and Kentucky also produced players on the CollegeSoccerNews.com National Team of the Week in C-USA Co-Offensive Players of the Week in the Mustangs' Leone Cruz and UK's Riley O'Neill. UAB goalkeeper Jeremy Drake earned Defensive Player of the Week honors as his Blazer squad knocked off No. 10 Notre Dame, 1-0, in the season opener. PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Co-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Leone Cruz, SMU DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
CONFERENCE USA MEN'S SOCCER NOTES TEAM NEWS & NOTES Florida International - FIU played well in its season opener Friday, but dropped a 1-0 decision to No. 9 South Florida. FIU goalkeeper Shawn Crowe (Aurora, Colo.) kept his team alive by making four of his game-high six saves in the second half. The Golden Panthers return to action next weekend when they will take on No. 11 California on Friday and Cincinnati on Saturday at the SMU Radisson Invitational in Dallas. Kentucky - Led by senior Riley O'Neill (Timberline, B.C.), the reigning C-USA Co-Offensive Player of the Week, the Wildcats won the UK Invitational title with a pair of wins over Florida Atlantic (3-0) and Wisconsin-Green Bay (2-1). O'Neill registered the hat trick against FAU and the game-winning goal against the Phoenix to also earn tournament MVP honors, as well as a spot on CollegeSoccerNews.com's National Team of the Week. Defensively, UK surrendered only one goal off a penalty kick. Kentucky goes on the road for a match against intrastate rival Louisville on Wednesday. Marshall - The Thundering Herd split its weekend play, posting a 4-1 victory over Manhattan in its home opener Friday before losing on the road to Louisville, 2-1, on Sunday. Senior Karim Boukhemis (Huntington, W.Va.), a preseason All-C-USA selection, scored a goal and assisted on Clayton Cochrane's (Morrisville, Pa.) goal in Friday's win. With three points in the match, Boukhemis matched his entire point output of 2005. On Sunday, Marshall got on the board first at the 10-minute mark with a goal from sophomore Kolby LaCrone (Zanesville, Ohio). It was LaCrone's first collegiate goal and he was assisted by classmate Osric Flores (Everett, Wash.). Memphis - The Tigers posted a 4-3 overtime victory in their season opener against Louisville on a game-winner from senior Jamie Gilbert (Broken Arrow, Okla.). Memphis was down 3-0 after 47 minutes but rallied for three second-half goals and Gilbert's goal four minutes into overtime. U of M rallied in Sunday's match as well, trailing 1-0 at the half at Belmont, but junior Kevin Walsh (Shrule, Ireland) and sophomore Tripp Harkins (Jackson, Miss.) scored second-half goals for the 2-1 win. SMU - The Mustangs, ranked as high as No. 2 in the preseason polls, earned the Great Western Downtown Plaza/Golden Hurricane Classic title, played in Tulsa, Okla., with the help of an unlikely source. Freshman defender Leone Cruz (Round Rock, Texas) was named the tournament MVP, and later earned C-USA Co-Offensive Player of the Week and CollegeSoccerNews.com National Team of the Week honors, scoring both game-winning goals in an 1-0 overtime decision against Wisconsin and later vs. No. 24 Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a 1-0 win. Cruz was joined by teammates Bruno Guarda (Piracicaba, Brazil), Scott Geppert Coppell, Texas) and senior Jay Needham (Ft. Worth, Texas) on the All-Classic Team. South Carolina - The Gamecocks lost a wild 4-3 contest to No. 5 Clemson Friday night in front of a home crowd of 5,009 fans, the 10th largest crowd in school history. Sophomore David Smith (Arlington, Texas) scored a pair of goals for the Gamecocks, his first multi-goal game of his career, but it was not enough for the win. USC is on the road for a 6 p.m. contest tonight at Wofford. Tulsa - TU knocked off a ranked opponent with a 3-0 shutout of No. 24 Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the season opener for both teams. Freshman Jose Parada (Houston, Texas) came off the bench and scored one goal and added an assist in his first collegiate game. Eric Burkholder (Broken Arrow, Okla.), a preseason All-Conference USA team member, put one into the net from 10 yards out, while sophomore Eric DeFreitas (Coppell, Texas) blasted a 40-footer past the keeper in the 46th minute for the second goal. However, TU did not have the same offensive firepower on Sunday, dropping a 3-0 decision to Wisconsin to place third in the Great Western Downtown Plaza/Golden Hurricane Classic. UAB - The Blazers picked up an exciting win on Friday, knocking off No. 10 Notre Dame, 1-0, on the Irish's home field in the opening round of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament. Senior forward Jerson Monteiro's (Houston, Texas) goal five minutes into the second overtime proved the game-winner, with the assist from sophomore Two-Boys Gumede (Louisville, Ky.). Monteiro also scored the Blazers' lone goal in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to No. 12 Indiana. Senior goalkeeper Jeremy Drake (Birmingham, Ala.) was outstanding in his first start since his freshman season, holding Notre Dame, one of the top scoring teams in the Big East last season, without a goal for over 104 minutes with eight saves on the night. Drake was also credited with six saves against the Hoosiers and earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Goalkeeper honor, as well as the title of C-USA Defensive Player of the Week. UCF - The Golden Knights may arguably have had one of the toughest opening weekends in college soccer at the Wake Forest Invitational. The host No. 16 Demon Deacons posted a 5-0 victory over UCF on Friday, but the Golden Knights held strong against top-ranked North Carolina before dropping a 1-0 decision Sunday. Sophomore goalkeeper Marcus Rein (Scotts Valley, Calif.) made five saves against the Tar Heels.
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