Oct. 26, 2008

IRVING, Texas - No. 10 Tulsa rolled to a 5-1 win over Memphis on Sunday for its ninth-straight win. The Golden Hurricane remain unbeaten and untied in league play and are 11-3-1 on the season. In other league action, Kentucky, South Carolina and SMU all grabbed conference wins, while UAB grabbed a non-league win over SIUE.

No. 10 TULSA 5, MEMPHIS 1
No. 10 Tulsa rolled to a 5-1 victory over Memphis on Sunday afternoon at the Mike Rose Stadium in Memphis, Tenn. The Golden Hurricane moved to 11-3-1 on the season and 6-0 in Conference USA to continue a nine-game winning streak, while Memphis fell to 5-9-1 overall and 3-3-1 in the league.

Sophomore Ashley McInnes gave TU an early lead, as he punched in a goal at the 10:59 mark. Chris Taylor took a corner kick that he crossed to Austin Neil on the left side, who slotted the ball to McInnes for the goal. McInnes would score again nearly two minutes later off a forward pass from Jose Parada.

Memphis would pull to within one at the 37:52 mark as Parker Duncan recorded a goal off a pass from Bradley Jacobs and the score remained 2-1 at the break.

In the second half, Neil headed in a ball from Jeovahnni Sandez at the 56th minute, scoring his eighth goal of the season. Parada and Eric DeFreitas each scored their third goals of the season at the 76th minute and 87th minute, respectively.

TU out-shot Memphis, 17-13, and had an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal. Tyrel Lacey picked up three saves in the contest after logging all 90 minutes in goal.

For more information, visit the Memphis website and the Tulsa website.

KENTUCKY 3, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 2
Senior Masumi Turnbull's goal in the 103rd minute gave Kentucky a valiant come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win over Florida International, on a brisk Saturday night at the UK Soccer Complex.

Kentucky (9-4-2, 5-1 Conference USA) trailed twice in the game, after allowing a FIU goal in the 10th minute and a go-ahead goal in the 55th frame. UK got goals from Jason Griffiths and C.J. Tappel, in addition to Turnbull's golden goal.

With the Wildcats locked in a drag-out physical battle with FIU in the second overtime period, UK maneuvered a challenge inside the box. Junior Marco dos Santos and the newly substituted freshman Mark Lavery played the ball in, and after a rebounded shot and with the FIU keeper out of position, Turnbull pounded home the winner, his first goal of the season. The assist was dos Santos' third of the year and Lavery's second on the season.

UK has now won four straight matches for the first time since the 2006 14-win campaign, a season that saw the Wildcats run up five straight wins over the regular season and conference tournament. The Wildcats four straight wins all came in conference play and included wins over No. 18 South Carolina, at UAB and at home against UCF and FIU. UK has lost only four times in 2008, with three coming on the road at top-25 foes.

With UK trailing 2-1 in the 64th minute, Tappel connected with Turnbull off a corner kick. Turnbull played the missed header to Tappel, who fired a hard shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the season and the third of his career. The assist marked Turnbull's second of the year and the 16th assist of his career, tying him with Riley O'Neil for third-place all-time in the UK career assist record book.

The Wildcats trailed in the 23rd minute and got the equalizer to the eighth-minute FIU goal that put UK in an early deficit. Dos Santos formed a threat inside the 18-yard box and forced a foul from FIU, setting up a penalty kick. UK turned to

Griffiths, who beat the keeper for his fourth goal of the year, all on penalties. Griffiths, a junior and native of Bracknell, England, improved to 4-for-4 on penalties in 2008 and 6-for-6 in his career.

Kentucky controlled the tempo of the game throughout, forcing several scoring chances and holding a dominating 19-6 total shot advantage. UK held a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks and a 11-2 shots on goal advantage.

UK preseason All-America defender Barry Rice, a pure ball winner, won 11-of-15 contested header attempts on the night. On the season Rice, a member of the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy National Player of the Year Watch List, has won 113-for-127 contested header attempts on the season, a nearly 90-percent success rate.

For more, check out the FIU website and the Kentucky website.

SOUTH CAROLINA 1, MARSHALL 0
Sam Arthur tallied his team-leading 11th goal of the season in the 16th minute of the match to lead South Carolina past Marshall 1-0 on Saturday in a Conference USA road contest at Sam Hood Field. The victory snapped a three-game winless streak for the Gamecocks. Carolina's record improves to 7-5-2, with a 2-2-1 mark in C-USA play, while the Thundering Herd fall to 2-11-1, 2-4-0 in league action. Gamecock goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer played a standout match in net, collecting seven saves to earn his seventh shutout of the season.

Despite the Gamecock victory, Marshall held an 18-9 advantage in shots, while each team was awarded three corner kicks in the match. Arthur led Carolina with three shots, including one on frame, his sixth game-winner of the season and 11th overall goal. Senior forward Kevan Hawkins also contributed two shots, while several Gamecocks tallied one in the match.

Maurer dominated in net for the Gamecocks, collecting seven saves en route to his seventh shutout of the season. The seven shutouts mark the most in a single-season by a Carolina goalkeeper since Mike Gustavson recorded six during the 2006 campaign. Marshall goalkeeper Greg Walter tallied two saves, while Dustin Dawes led the attack with a game high four shots, including three on frame.

Arthur scored the lone goal of the match on an unassisted play in the 16th minute of the contest. A deflection off the hands of Walter in net for the Thundering Herd gave South Carolina the deciding 1-0 advantage.

More info is available on the Marshall website and the South Carolina website

SMU 2, UCF 0
Senior forward Paulo da Silva returned with a vengeance after a five-game layoff, coming off the bench to score both goals in a 2-0 SMU victory Saturday night at UCF in Orlando.

After the teams battled through a scoreless first half, da Silva broke the scoreless deadlock for good in the 53rd minute with his sixth goal of the season, an unassisted tally that broke the tie for the team goal-scoring lead that he shared with freshman midfielder Diogo da Almeida.

Just under two minutes later, da Silva added an insurance goal, converting assists from senior midfielder Gabe Arredondo and de Almeida to account for the final margin. da Silva's seven goals are one shy of his career high for scores in a single season, set in 2005 when he scored eight goals en route to finishing second on the SMU team in scoring with 18 points.

While da Silva was the headliner on the offensive end of the field, junior goalkeeper Craig Hill recorded eight saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season.

With the victory, the Mustangs improve to 9-4-2 overall this season, and 2-3-1 in Conference USA games.

The Mustangs now return home to Westcott Field to host the Univeristy of Kentucky in the final home game of the regular season at 12 p.m. next Sunday (Nov. 2) in a game that will be broadcast nationally on CBS College. The Ponies also will host the Conference USA Tournament, Nov. 12-16, at Westcott Field.

For additional news, visit the SMU website and the UCF website.

UAB 1, SIUE 0
Junior midfielder Two-Boys Gumede scored the game-winning goal with just under nine minutes remaining in regulation to lift UAB to a 1-0 victory over SIU-Edwardsville in the final non-conference game of the regular season. The victory snaps a three-game losing skid and improves the Blazers to 5-8-2 on the campaign.

After controlling most of the possession and having several dangerous opportunities, the Blazers finally broke through the Cougar defense at the 81:26 mark. That's when sophomore forward Anthony King received a pass and touched a ball over to Gumede. The team's scoring leader then drilled a shot off the goalkeeper and into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the campaign.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Tucker Stone, starting his first collegiate contest, played impressively en route to his first career shutout. Stone made three saves on the night, including a diving stop on an SIUE shot midway through the opening 45 minutes.

Gumede recorded a career high six shots in the contest to lead the Blazers. As a team, UAB outshot SIU-Edwardsville,13-6 on the night, including a 6-3 shots on goal advantage.

For more, check out the UAB website.