Oct. 27, 2007

A total of five teams - Kentucky, Memphis, SMU, South Carolina and Tulsa - have secured their spots in the 2007 Conference USA Men's Soccer Championship after a full slate of conference games today. No. 5 SMU needs just one more win to earn the No. 1 seed for the third year in a row after shutting out Memphis tonight, 1-0. Kentucky leapt to second place in the conference standings, over an idle No. 14 Tulsa team, with a 2-1 road win at Florida International. South Carolina earned its championship berth, and head coach Mark Berson picked up his 400th win with the Gamecocks, with a 2-1 victory over Marshall. In the final match of the night, UAB picked up a key 2-1 win over UCF to snap an eight-game winless streak.

No. 5 SMU 1, Memphis 0

Junior midfielder Bruno Guarda scored his seventh goal of the season, and senior goalkeeper Steve Sandbo collected his fourth shutout of the season to lift No. 5 SMU to a 1-0 victory over Conference USA foe Memphis. The victory was the seventh in a row for the Mustangs. With the win, the Ponies improve to 11-2-2 this season and retain the top spot in Conference USA with a 6-0-1 record against conference opponents. Memphis slips to 8-3-4 overall and 2-1-3 in C-USA games.

Guarda scored the game's only goal in the 35th minute when junior forward Richard Oliva lifted a long crossing pass to Guarda, who headed the ball past Memphis goalkeeper Tyler Strom. Guarda now has a team-leading 20 points this season, and his goal ties him with Oliva for the team lead.

Despite the close score, the Mustangs dominated much of the game, outshooting Memphis, 9-5, and maintaining a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal, as well as a 9-5 edge in corner kicks.

Kentucky 2, Florida International 1

Junior Brad Frederick delivered the game-winning goal in the 61st minute, as Kentucky edged Florida International, 2-1 on Saturday evening at University Park.

Kentucky (6-7-2, 4-2 C-USA), winners of its last three games and five of its last seven, got on the board in the 12th minute, as freshman C.J. Tappell connected on a header off a Masumi Turnbull free kick. The goal was Tappell's first of his career and the assist marked Turnbull's team-high sixth of the season.

The Wildcats lost the statistical battle, registering just six shots and one corner kick to FIU's 16 shots and nine corners. UK keeper Dan Williams continues to be a force in between the pipes, saving nine shots. FIU keeper Matias Wilson registered three saves, all in the second half.

Florida International (2-10, 2-4 C-USA) got on the board in the 32nd minute, evening things up before the half. Juan Guerra netted his team-best fifth goal of the season, dribbling into the box, beating the defender, and firing a shot into the high right corner of the net from the left side of the box.

Frederick fired a shot from just outside the midfield box in the 61st minute, striking a FIU player and ricocheting into the goal. The goal was Frederick's first of the season and the third of his career.

South Carolina 3, Marshall 1

South Carolina defeated Marshall, 3-1, in Conference USA action at Stone Stadium on Saturday. The win marks USC head coach Mark Berson's 400th win at the helm of the Gamecock program. Carolina improves to 9-5-1 for the year, including a 3-2-1 mark in league play. Marshall falls to 8-7-1, with a 2-4-0 C-USA tally. Freshmen Mike Lindsay and Will Traynor each tallied their first collegiate goal, and sophomore Jeff Scannella chipped in his team-leading sixth tally of the year in the Gamecock victory.

Freshman forward Mike Lindsay tallied his first career goal and led USC with five shots in the win. Freshman defender Will Traynor also scored his first collegiate goal, while sophomore midfielder Jeff Scannella added one goal and one assist, and sophomore defender Mark Wiltse contributed one assist for the Gamecocks. Scannella scored the second goal of the match for USC, marking his third game-winning tally of the year. Sophomore forward Bryan Lowder also contributed three shots for USC.

In net for Carolina, freshman goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer collected eight saves, just two saves shy of matching his season high. Marshall utilized two goalkeepers in the match, as Craig Ratanamorn allowed one goal, and Brad Kennedy allowed two goals while collecting five saves for the Thundering Herd.

Avneet Shergill scored the lone Marshall goal of the match. He was assisted by Osric Flores in the 73rd minute.

Carolina marked the scoreboard early in the match, when Scannella placed a corner kick inside the six-yard box for Traynor who redirected the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 Gamecock advantage. Scannella extended the Carolina lead to 2-0 in the 24th minute, beating a Marshall defender just inside the 18 for his team-leading sixth tally of the season.

Lindsay scored his first goal of the season just two minutes later on an assist from Wiltse, and Carolina dominated the remainder of the half to hold a 3-0 lead at the halftime break.

Marshall found momentum in the second half, scoring the lone goal of the set in the 73rd minute to near the Carolina lead at 3-1. USC continued to battle and was able to utilize a total of 18 players in the match to close the 3-1 victory.

UAB 2, UCF 1

Junior Trey Gregory scored the game-winning goal in the 54th minute to lift UAB to an important 2-1 victory over UCF at West Campus Field Saturday night. Not only did the victory snap an eight game winless streak, but the Blazers positionedthemselves for a berth to the 2007 Conference USA Championship, hosted by UAB on Nov. 14-18.

The Blazers (6-9-1, 1-5 C-USA) move a half game ahead of UCF (4-10-1, 0-5-1) for the final spot in the C-USA Championship. However, Getman knows his team still has a lot of work left.

The Blazers wasted no time getting on the board, as junior midfielder Derek Rios found the back of the net at the 11:28 mark for his fourth goal of the campaign. Rios received a pass from junior Frank Brown, and blistered a shot from 22-yards. The shot sailed past UCF¹s Sean Johnson and into the back of the net for the one-goal lead.

However, the Knights quickly responded less than four minutes later, as Matt Luzunaris finished off a loose ball in the UAB box to even things up at 1-1. Luzunaris was on the end of a mad scramble in front of the UAB net, as several Blazers had an opportunity to clear the ball away, but could not get the job done. Luzunaris was able to gather the loose ball and strike a bullet into the top of the net at the 15:28 mark.

But it was the Blazers who got the last laugh in the 54th minute of play. Brown played a cross which found the feet of freshman Kevin Sawchak. The Atlanta, Ga. native hit a shot that Johnson saved, but Gregory was right there to finish it off into the back of the net to give his team the lead for good.

Even with the one goal lead, the game was far from over, as senior Joe Klosterman received a second yellow card just two minutes after UAB took the lead, which forced the Blazers to play a man short for the final 35 minutes. However, the defense stepped up and did not allow a shot throughout the entire second half.

The contest was one of the most physical games of the season for UAB, as it featured a combined 38 fouls, seven yellow cards and Klosterman¹s red card.

Getman feels part of the reason for the success was the return of several starters who missed several games with injury. In fact, Saturday¹s game was the first time in over a month the team fielded its regular starting 11.