Sept. 7, 2008

Three Conference USA teams remain undefeated three weeks into the 2008 season. UTEP claimed the 2008 Sun City Invitational title to improve to 5-0-0. Colorado College (4-0-1) and Marshall (2-0-2) also remain undefeated. SMU's Caitlin Carter and Tulsa's Jennifer Kacergis became the second and third players, respectively, to register hat tricks in this young season, while leading their teams to victories.

UTEP 4, South Dakota State 3
UTEP 2, Houston Baptist 0

The UTEP soccer team cruised to a 2-0 victory against Houston Baptist University to claim the 2008 Sun City Invitational title at University Field on Sunday at University Field. Cortney Casey and Katie Dorman scored for UTEP while the Miners' stop troops did not allow the Huskies to register a shot on net. The victory moves the Orange and Blue to 5-0 on the year, with four of the triumphs via the shutout. UTEP dominated the match from the opening whistle. The Miners held a staggering advantage of 23-3 in shots, including 11 which were on target. HBU garnered only one corner kick, compared to the 10 earned by the Miners. More information can be found on the UTEP website.

Colorado College 0, Long Island 0 (2OT)
Colorado College 2, Ball State 0

Second-half goals by sophomore forwards Tiffany Brown and Sydney Fetter fueled Colorado College to a 2-0 victory over Ball State Sunday. The Tigers, who also got a second consecutive shutout performance from sophomore keeper Emma Bailey, remain undefeated at 4-0-1 for the season.

Held without a shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes, CC began attacking more diagonally after the intermission. The adjustment paid off in the 58th minute, when Kelsey Wise was able to find Fetter open on the right side. The BSU keeper made a diving stop on Fetter, but the rebound rolled directly to Brown, whose easy tap-in snapped a scoreless deadlock at 57:22.

Fetter made it 2-0 less than 12 minutes later after winning a race down the middle for a lead pass from Lauren Talbot. Fetter and Murphy reached the ball at about the same time, but Fetter ended up with it behind the Cardinal goalie, and was able to find the open net from about 16 yards away. For more information, go to the Colorado College website.

Marshall 2, The Citadel 2 (2OT)
Marshall 2, Radford 2 (2OT)

Marshall concluded the fourth annual Thundering Herd Nike Invitational with a 2-2 double overtime draw with Radford Sunday afternoon at Sam Hood Field. Sophomore F Missy Gordon curved the ball to the top right corner of the goal to put the Herd up early in the 23rd minute. It was Gordon's third career and second season goal. She also added four shots, two on goal. Sophomore F Erika Duncan drilled it cross field to the top right of the goal to finish the first half. Freshman Kaitlin Devine added an assist on the play. The goal was the eighth of Duncan's career, and third of the season. The sophomore finished with four shots on the day.

Marshall extended its unbeaten streak to four matches (two of which ended in ties), which hasn't been done since 2004. The 2004 team went 2-0-2 in its opening four matches before falling to Wright State and finished with three ties against La Salle, Drexel and Bowling Green. More info available on the Marshall website.

NO. 29 UCF 1, Pacific 0
UCF 2, UC Davis 2 (2OT)

Redshirt freshman Aline Reis amassed 10 saves to spark the No. 29 UCF women's soccer team to a 1-0 win at Pacific Friday. Junior Becca Thomas scored the match's lone goal on a penalty kick as the Knights claimed their third-consecutive 1-0 decision.

For head coach Amanda Cromwell, it was her 150th career victory in 12 seasons as a collegiate coach. It also was UCF win No. 130 in the 10 years she has been at the helm of the program.

Sunday, UCF and UC Davis both held late leads in Davis, Calif., but neither could secure the game-winning goal in a 2-2 tie Sunday. Junior Becca Thomas and freshman Katie Jackson each scored goals for the Knights in the draw. For more info on the Knights, check out the UCF website.

Houston 2, Louisiana-Lafayette 0

Freshman Jessica Zavalza made a resounding return to the lineup on Friday, scoring a pair of goals to lead Houston to a 2-0 win over Louisiana-Lafayette at Robertson Stadium and a third-straight victory. Zavalza now leads the club with three goals and six points just three games into her collegiate career.

Zavalza put the Cougars up early, scoring her first goal in the 6th minute. Senior Maegan Kiphart played a good ball through the Ragin' Cajun back line, finding an open Zavalza who deftly beat keeper Stephanie Weston one-on-one. Zavalza would put the game away in the 73rd minute as she once again beat Weston. Freshman Stephanie Derieg played a ball up the left sideline, finding Zavalza in space as she penetrated into the box and finished with skill.

Senior GK Shelby Scott posted her second consecutive clean sheet and has only allowed a pair of goals in more than 371:00 minutes of action this season for a goals against average of 0.48. Scott posted six saves, including a diving stop on a Callie Oliver rip just yards in front of the goal in the 76th minute to help preserve her tenth career shutout.

For more information, log onto the Houston website.

No. 18 Oklahoma State 4, Rice 0
Rice 1, Oklahoma o

Junior F Anne Candee scored on a direct corner kick to lift the Rice soccer team to a 1-0 road victory over Big 12 foe Oklahoma Sunday afternoon in Norman, Okla. Candee leads the team with four goals on the season. The Owls bounced back from a 4-0 loss to No. 18 Oklahoma State on Friday.

More info available on the Rice website.

Tulsa 3, McNeese State 0
Tulsa 10, Jackson State 0

Tulsa earned a pair of shutouts over the weekend to improve to 4-2 under first-year head coach Kyle Cussen. Junior Jennifer Kacergis' hat trick led Tulsa to a 10-0 victory against Jackson State on Sunday afternoon at the Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium.

Courtney Chadney got the ball rolling for the Golden Hurricane as she logged her third goal of the season at the 13:56 mark as she went one-on-one with the goalkeeper from five yards out. She sparked a scoring frenzy for Tulsa as Kacergis found the net just a little over a minute later from a long ball off the left side. Kacergis would score two more times in the contest, including a goal in the 25th minute and one in the 51st minute. Sarah Greene, Natalia Alatorre, Kelley Ricker, Brandi Neilson and Jessa Weekley all earned their first career goal in today's contest, while Stephanie Johnson tallied her first goal of the season and second career goal.

TU also had a tremendous showing on defense, as the Golden Hurricane did not allow a single shot in the game. This was the first time Tulsa has held a team to zero shots since doing so against Centenary on September, 24, 2005. Tulsa also shutout the Tigers, which led the nation with a 3.59 goals per game average in 2007.

For more, check out the Tulsa website.

East Carolina 2, UNC-Wilmington 1 (OT)

East Carolina defeated intrastate rival UNC Wilmington, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at the UNCW Soccer Stadium. UNC Wilmington represents the school that ECU has played most in program history as the Pirates now lead the all-time series 10-4-1. Additionally, the win marks the third consecutive season that the program has started 3-1.

The Seahawks scored first, but East Carolina tied the contest just over 15 minutes later when they earned a corner. Freshman Leah Bagonis scored her second goal of the season as she put the ball in the back of the net off of a deflection from fellow rookie Amanda Malkiewicz. Senior Nicole Moore earned the other assist as she took the corner. Each team recorded a shot in the first sudden-victory overtime period but it was ECU that capitalized on its chance as junior Jessica Swanson took a ball that was flicked into the box by Campbell and beat Seahawk keeper Emily Pratt to her left.

More info available on the East Carolina website.

Memphis 2, Mississippi 1
Miami 3, Memphis 0

Led by goals from Ashley Berra and Vendula Strnadova, Memphis took home a 2-1 win over Ole Miss Friday. A chilly late summer night began with a defensive battle. Neither squad surrendered easy opportunities to their rival, but 8:55 into the opening half, Strnadova received the ball at open field and passed it ahead to an open Berra on a break away. The goalie was drawn off the line to challenge Berra, but she was able to deposit a shot past the goalie in the back of the net giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead that they would defend into halftime. .

With 15:12 remaining in the game, following a foul near the corner junior midfielder Laura Laufenberg sent the ball to an open Strnadova thirty yards in front of the goal. She launched a bending shot over the hand of the outstretched Rebel goalkeeper notching her first goal of the 2008 season and putting the Lady Tigers up 2-0.

More details can be found on the Memphis website.

SMU 5, Prairie View A&M 1
No. 20 Kansas 1, SMU 0

SMU senior F Caitlin Carter, who missed the first two games of the season, scored three first-half goals to lead SMU to a 5-1 victory over Prairie View A&M at Westcott Field Friday night. Carter gave the Mustangs what proved to be the only goal they would need in the 14th minute, when she stole a pass, dribbled in and beat PVAM goalkeeper Jessica Garcia from about 15 yards out. She put the game out of reach later in the first half, when she scored her second and third goals of the season 47 seconds apart. She scored her second unassisted goal of the night in the 33rd minute, and then punched home a rebound of a shot by Dylan Jordan in the 34th minute to give the Mustangs a 3-0 halftime lead.

Carter scored her three goals in just over 20 minutes - matching the total she had scored in her three previous seasons at SMU. In each of the last three games in which she has scored, going back to last season, Carter has scored the game-winning goal.

Freshman Mary Connally scored the Mustangs' fourth goal in the 46th minute, when she buried a rebound off a Sarah Catherine Ryan shot that hit the goalpost. Sophomore Laura Landry finished off the scoring when she netted a free kick from about 19 yards out. For more details, check out the SMU website.

Mississippi 1, Southern Miss 0

Southern Miss' unbeaten streak ended at four games as the Golden Eagles were off to an impressive 3-0-1 start before dropping a tight 1-0 decision to Ole Miss Sunday. The four -game unbeaten streak to start the season was the fourth-best start in school history and is equally impressive considering that Southern Miss has played the first five games of the season over a 10-day period with none of those games at the Southern Miss Soccer Complex.

The game was scoreless through the first half and into the 56th minute before the Rebels scored. Southern Miss (3-1-1) keeper Holly Cox saved six shots as the Rebels fired 18 shots in the game. For more details, check out the Southern Miss website.

No. 20 Kansas 5, UAB 2
Nebraska 3, UAB 0

The Blazers dropped a pair of contests on the road this weekend, to No. 20 Kansas, 5-2, on Friday and Nebraska, 3-0, Sunday.

Against Kansas, the Blazers struck first when freshman MF/F Laura McCalla scored a goal in the third minute of the contest to put UAB up, 1-0. The goal marked UAB's first goal of the season and McCalla's first goal of her collegiate career.

Kansas responded with back-to-back goals in the seventh minute, then UAB junior F Danya Barsalona tied it up at two-all in the 11th minute.

McCalla paced UAB in shots with two, followed by Barsalona, junior Ayana Russell, sophomores Janet Self and Morgan Haney and freshman Tiffini Turpin with one shot each. More information is available on the UAB website.