Oct. 14, 2008

Oct. 14 Men's Soccer Notebook

IRVING, Texas - Tulsa, the defending C-USA Men’s Soccer Champion, was chosen to repeat as league champion by the head coaches in the preseason poll. So far in 2008, they are living up to that prediction. The Golden Hurricane improved to 4-0 in C-USA play and is on a six-game winning streak after downing Kentucky and Marshall last week. TU is 8-3-1 overall and during the streak have out-scored its opponents 16-4. The team appears at No. 16 in the latest NSCAA Top 25 poll.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
TIM CRONE - Kentucky
Jr., F, Cincinnati, Ohio
Crone had a career week for the Wildcats, netting two goals in two C-USA games, including a game-winner against South Carolina. Crone netted his third and fourth goals of the season during the week, good for second on the team. Against No. 14 Tulsa, Crone nailed his third goal, firing a shot from the right side, about 12 yards out. In the win over South Carolina, Crone notched the game-winner, as he took a feed from C.J. Tappel and pounded the ball home.

CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
DAN WILLIAMS - Kentucky
Jr., GK, Fairfax Station, Va.
Williams continues to compile impressive wins this season, including posting his conference-leading fifth shutout of the season against No. 18 South Carolina, a team that entered the game in Lexington as the highest-scoring offense in the league. The junior saved three shots in the win over the Gamecocks, as well as several diving clearances that thwarted scoring chances. In a one-goal loss at No. 14 Tulsa, UK allowed two goals past Williams, one on a penalty kick and the second on an own goal, after a Wildcat defender knocked the ball in the net.

CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
CHRIS TAYLOR - Tulsa
So., D, Edmond, Okla.
Taylor anchored a defensive unit that helped TU post league wins over Kentucky and Marshall last week. He was instrumental in helping Tulsa pick up its third shutout of the season against the Herd, while also picking up an assist. Against UK, the sophomore punched in a penalty kick and helped clear several balls to help lead Tulsa to the 2-1 win. Taylor has tallied two goals and earned two assists for six points from his defender position this season.

SHOOTING STARS
- Tulsa freshman F Austin Neil helped TU post a 2-1 win over Kentucky and a 3-0 victory over Marshall this week, to help TU improve to 4-0 in the league standings. Neil scored two goals against the Thundering Herd, including the game winner. He has tallied five goals on the season, the most for any Golden Hurricane player, including has three game-winners, and has added two assists for a team-best 12 points.

- C-USA preseason Offensive Player of the Year Juan Guerra had a great week for Florida International, helping the Golden Panthers split a pair of C-USA matches. On Wednesday, Guerra scored the match-tying goal against UCF and later assisted on the match-winning score, handing UCF its first conference loss of the year. On Sunday, despite FIU falling 2-1 against Memphis, Guerra picked up an assist on FIU’s lone goal.

- Freshman F Parker Duncan of Memphis scored two goals to propel Memphis to a 2-1 victory on Sunday against FIU. His first goal came when the FIU defender lost control of the ball and Duncan launched into the goal. Duncan’s second goal was on a rebound of a Ryan Ruble shot that was saved but not controlled by Fullerton. The goals were the freshman’s first two goals of his career.

- Memphis GK Michael Goodlett had five saves and allowed one goal but got the win in goal for the Tigers. He has a goals against average of 1.39 on the season.

- Sophomore Yaron Bacher picked a perfect time to score his first UCF goal as his tally in the 17th minute enabled the Knights to defeat UAB, 1-0, Saturday at the UCF Soccer Complex. Classmate Sean Johnson secured his fourth shutout of the year to help the Knights stay near the top of the Conference USA standings at 3-1-0 and 6-5-0 overall.

JOHNSON KEEPS KNIGHTS IN THE HUNT
UCF GK Sean Johnson secured his fourth shutout of the year to help the Knights stay near the top of the Conference USA standings at 3-1-0 and 6-5-0 overall. Johnson now has six shutouts in two seasons for the Knights, while his 2008 save total jumped to 59 in 11 matches played. After being outshot 8-6 in the opening half, UAB (4-6-2, 1-2-0) completed its evening with a 15-8 lead in shots.

Johnson made one of his best saves of the year with just less than 29 minutes remaining, punching away a point-blank attempt by Two-Boys Gumede. UAB had 10 corner kicks in the final stanza but the UCF defense remained strong and did not allow the Blazers a good look at the equalizer.

UCF’s three-match homestand continues with a non-conference battle against in-state foe No. 12 USF. The contest will get underway Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the UCF Soccer Complex.

CRONE AND WILLIAMS LEAD CATS
Kentucky F Tim Crone and GK Dan Williams led Kentucky to a monumental win over South Carolina Sunday, blanking the Gamecocks 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at the UK Soccer Complex. For their efforts they were named C-USA Offensive and Co-Defensive Players of the Week, respectively.

Kentucky notched just the second win over USC in the history of the program, with Williams posting his fifth shutout of the season in a three-save performance. Crone netted his second goal in as many games, a game-winner in the 51st minute. In a loss at No. 14 Tulsa, Crone netted a goal in the 46th minute, a game that UK would drop on an own goal. Williams shutout a South Carolina team that entered the game leading C-USA in scoring. Williams ranks tops in the conference with a 0.73 goals against average and his fifth shutout of the year ranks ninth all-time in UK season history.

The Wildcats lead the league in several offensive categories, including points (72), goals (25), goals per game (2.08), goals allowed (9), goals against average (0.72) and shutouts (6). UK also ranks third in assists (22) and assists per game (1.83).

SMU NO. 24 IN NSCAA POLL
Carrying a 7-3-2 overall record, SMU continues to hold national rankings in all the soccer polls and appears at No. 24 in the latest NSCAA Poll. The Mustangs were led last week by freshman F Arthur Ivo and junior GK Craig Hill.

Ivo played a huge role in both SMU games. In Wednesday’s 1-1 tie with South Carolina, Ivo had a pair of shots for the Mustangs, but more importantly, after the Ponies fell behind, Ivo forced his way through the physical South Carolina defense and got taken down in the penalty box, setting up Manuel Mariel’s game-tying penalty kick. Then, in Sunday’s 5-1 rout of Central Arkansas, Ivo fired three shots and scored what proved the game-winning goal against a packed-in UCA defense. Ivo now has seven points on a pair of goals and three assists.

Hill anchored the SMU defense in a 1-1 tie Wednesday against South Carolina and in Sunday’s 5-1 win over Central Arkansas. Against the Gamecocks, he had a pair of saves, including one from nearly point-blank range to keep the Ponies even after 110 minutes in a heated battle with the Gamecocks. Against UCA, he had four saves and cleared several more balls out of the box on crosses and free kicks. In 1,114:24 minutes this season, Hill now has a goals-against average of 0.97, and he has 4 shutouts.