Oct. 14, 2007

There were four important conference matches played Saturday that shifted the C-USA standings once again. Most notably, a Florida International team that had been ninth and moved up to a tie for third with South Carolina following a pair of wins this week. No. 10 SMU and No. 23 Tulsa also defended their national standings with shutouts. Memphis, who had played UCF and Tulsa to knotted scores, picked up its first conference win of the season over visiting Kentucky.

No. 23 Tulsa 1, South Carolina 0

No. 23 Tulsa claimed a 1-0 victory over South Carolina on Saturday night at Stone Stadium in Columbia, S.C. The Golden Hurricane moved to 7-2-2 on the season and 2-0-2 in Conference USA, while the Gamecocks fell to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the league. Senior Eric Burkholder picked up his second goal of the season and the 10th of his career off a pass from junior Diego Henriquez in the 54th minute for the only goal of the contest. Dominic Cervi picked up six saves in the contest.

Carolina out-shot Tulsa 11-6, where junior midfielder Spencer Lewis and sophomore midfielder Cory Lewis paced the Gamecocks with three shots each. Senior defender Daniel Upchurch contributed two shots in the loss. South Carolina freshman goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer allowed one goal, collecting one save.

No. 10 SMU 3, Marshall 0

No. 10 SMU shutout Marshall, 3-0, Saturday evening in front of 1223 spectators at Sam Hood Field. The Herd drops to 7-4-1 overall this season and 1-1-0 in C-USA action, while the visiting Mustangs improve to 7-2-2 and 2-0-1 in conference play. The loss snapped Marshall's seven-game undefeated streak and the Herd entered the weekend with the No. 9 ranking in the NSCA/adidas Midwest Region poll.

The Mustangs got on the board in the 23rd minute, when Scott Geppert received a pass from Dane Saintus 10 yards out and placed his shot to the left side of the net beating a diving Craig Ratanamorn. SMU struck again 14 minutes later, as Adrian Chevannes received a ball at midline and dribbled to the 18-yard box and took a shot that deflected off a Marshall defender to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead, which it would remain until intermission. The Mustangs rounded out the scoring at the 85th minute mark when Ryan Mirsky drove a free kick to the left side of the net 19 yards out.

The Herd had quality chances in both halves to put points on the board, but missed high on each opportunity. In the first half, Sterling Flunder weaved between two SMU defenders to create a look just behind the 18-yard box, but overshot the goal.

Trailing 2-0, the Herd had two chances that ended up with unfortunate results for Marshall. After a wall pass from Nick Daniele, Jermaine Johnson created an open look for Jira Cooley who fired a shot eight yards out, but again missed high over the goal. Minutes later, the Herd kept the offensive pressure on and Cooley placed another shot on target that hit the crossbar.

Memphis 3, Kentucky 1

Memphis (6-2-3, 1-0-2) hosted its second Conference USA match of the 2007 season, and the Tigers scored three times in the second period before a crowd of 927 to beat Kentucky (3-7-2, 3-1) and picked up their first conference win.

After a scoreless and physical first half, Kentucky's Barry Rice opened scoring four minutes into the second period with a header off a Masumi Turnbull's free kick that shot past Michael Goodlett. Robert Sausaman responded in kind with a header of his own off Sean Goulding's free kick to knot the score at 1-1. The score gave Sausaman his first goal of the year and Goulding his sixth assist. The score remained tied for the next 21 minutes until Rick Alleman and Kevin Walsh scored in under a minute to put the Tigers up 3-1, where they would stay for good. Streaking through the middle of the Kentucky defense, Alleman received Walsh's feed, which he stuck inside the near post for the game winner, his first of the season. Walsh sent a rocket at the goal off a free kick from about 30 yards that squirted past Williams for the final goal of the match.

Florida International 2, UAB 1 (2ot)

Florida International's Juan Guerra scored two goals, including the game winner in the second overtime with just over a minute left, to lift the Golden Panthers to a 2-1 victory over UAB Saturday afternoon at West Campus Field. FIU (2-8-2, 2-2-0) picked up its second consecutive win of the season, as Guerra scored his second goal of the match with 1:18 to play in the second overtime.

The Blazers (5-6-1; 0-3-0) continue to fight injuries, as leading scorer Dejan Jakovic missed his second consecutive contest, and UAB finished without seven starters on the field. The Blazers did strike first when in the 30th minute, Frank Brown's throw-in was headed by Trey Gregory and the shot sailed over Kyle Thomas' head and into the net for a 1-0 UAB lead. UAB would control the rest of the first half, holding FIU to just two shots. The second half would see fairly even play as both teams were credited with four shots, but neither team could muster much of a threat.

However, Guerra beat a defender to get open and fire a shot into the lower left corner, tying the score at one with eight minutes remaining in regulation. The Golden Panthers would dominate the overtime period, taking six shots and not allowing a single UAB shot. However, the Blazers stood their ground and looked poised to force a 1-1 tie. That all changed when Guerra fired a shot that deflected off UAB keeper Wes Johnson's hands and went in for the game winning goal, and Guerra's fourth score of the season.

Guerra's two goals mark the third time this year an FIU player has scored twice in one match. The previous times being last Wednesday against UCF when Steven Jair Cabas scored two en route to FIU's first victory, and before that it was Guerra also; his coming in a 2-2 tie vs. Illinois-Chicago.

Florida International also defeated conference and intrastate rival UCF, 3-2, on Wednesday. The Knights were idle over the weekend and are back in action this Wednesday, Oct. 17, as host to Kentucky.