Nov. 4, 2006

TULSA, Okla - Kentucky downed host Tulsa, 3-0, in the second semifinal game of the 2006 C-USA men's soccer championship Friday night at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium on the campus of the University of Tulsa. Jase Griffiths scored twice for the Wildcats, his third and fourth goals on the season.

UK grabbed the early advantage on Griffiths' first goal when he scored on a point blank shot from five yards out into the left corner of the net. The Golden Hurricane went into the half staring at the 1-0 deficit.

Matthew Baum put Kentucky up, 2-0, in the 68th minute when he took a pass from Michael Strong from about 10 yards out and punched it down the center of the goal.

Tulsa continued to battle hard late into the match with a championship berth on the line, but Griffiths' second goal from 18-yards out gave the Wildcats an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

The win for UK is its fifth-straight, its longest winning streak since 2004. The Wildcats are unbeaten in six matches. Riley O'Neill, the scoring star from Wednesday for Kentucky, notched one assists on Friday night. He now has 72 career points, one shy of the UK career record for points scored. Kentucky is also 6-0 when Matt Troop starts at keeper.

Head coach Ian Collins thought that his team earned a tough win.

"Well it was a very tough game and I thought Tulsa played terrifically well," Collins said. "They came out with an unbelievable amount of intensity and emotion. I am proud of our guys because they matched it and scored three goals on the road against a very good team. I thought both teams were terrific tonight and this was a very, very hard fought game, like a conference semi-final should be."

With the victory, Kentucky improves to 14-4-2, while Tulsa concludes its regular season at 9-10.

Second-seeded Kentucky will now battle No. 1 SMU for the C-USA title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship on Sunday afternoon. The match will be aired live on CSTV at 1 p.m.