Sept. 30, 2008

After the opening weekend of conference play, East Carolina took the top spot in the standings as the Pirates posted their second consecutive shutout (and fifth of the season) with a 1-0 victory over host Houston. Ten teams split in the two matches that marked their conference debut for a 10-team tie for second place in the standings. A full slate of matches is scheduled for both Friday and Sunday. This is the first season under the realigned membership that each team plays all 11 conference foes during the regular season.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Lauren Shepherd, SMU
Sophomore, MF, Dallas, Texas
Shepherd scored both SMU goals over the weekend, and each was significant. In Sunday's 1-0 victory against UTEP, Shepherd took a long through pass, outran a couple of defenders and slid it into the lower right corner of the goal in the 75th minute for the game-winner. She also scored the Mustangs lone goal a 2-1 loss to Colorado College Friday night. This is the first Player of the Week honor for Shepherd.

Shelley Wong, Rice
Junior, MF, Virginia Beach, Va.
Wong scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner in a 3-1 victory against Marshall on Sunday. Wong shared the team lead with seven shots on the week and maintained a .286 shooting percentage and .571 shots-on-goal percentage. This is her first weekly honor.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Amber Campbell, East Carolina
Senior, GK, Frederick, Md.
Campbell made 12 saves and posted a pair of shutouts in the opening weekend of conference play. She made seven stops Friday in a 2-0 win against Rice, then tallied five saves Sunday against Houston in a 1-0 victory. The senior has now has registered five shutouts on the season and a school-record 26 for her career. This is the second Player of the Week honor for her career.

HUSTON AND CROSS APPROACH CENTURY MARK
Rice head coach Chris Huston and UTEP head coach Kevin Cross both enter the weekend with 99 career wins. In her eighth season since starting the program in 2001, Huston has compiled a 99-75-12 record as the Owls' only head coach. Cross also has 99 wins (99-47-6) since taking the program reigns in 2001, compiling seven straight winning seasons.

SHOOTING STARS
East Carolina senior Blair Heffner scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Houston Sunday. With the win, the Pirates took the top spot in the C-USA standings and posted their second consecutive shutout.

East Carolina ranked No. 13 in the Southeast Region by Soccer Buzz this week, for its first ranking of the 2008 season.

In a battle of two 2007 NCAA Tournament teams, No. 20 UCF erased a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat host Memphis in overtime, 2-1, Sunday. UCF senior Sarah de Leon's game-winner was the first of her career. UCF is now 1-0-1 in overtime games this season. The Knights last overtime win before Sunday was a 2007 match at Memphis that ended with the same result.

In a match televised by CBS College Sports, SMU GK Courtney Webb picked up a shutout in her second career start as SMU knocked off UTEP, 1-0. Webb saved all seven Miner shots, including two direct shots within a couple of seconds at the start of the second half.

UTEP freshman GK Sara Kaltwasser, in her first extended action since the season-opening triumph over Baylor, registered 10 saves to pace UTEP's defense over the weekend. She turned away three chances in helping UTEP shut down Tulsa's sixth-rated national offensive attack on Friday. Kaltwasser then registered a career-high seven stops against SMU.

Southern Miss sophomore Samantha Polley scored the golden goal for the Golden Eagles in a 1-0 overtime win against host UAB. Polley scored the game-winner, her first goal of the season and second of her career, with about three minutes remaining in the game.

Rice junior MF Shelley Wong scored two goals, including the game-winner as the Owls defeated Marshall, 3-1, Sunday. It was Wong's second two-goal match of the season. Wong's classmate Erin Scott notched two assists for the Owls in the match against Marshall.

Marshall sophomore F Erika Duncan notched her sixth goal of the season on Friday to lead the Herd to a 2-1 victory against Houston.

UAB sophomore MF Marie Yempuku was credited with three points, tallying her first career goal and adding an assist in the Blazers' 4-1 victory over No. 20 UCF on Friday.

Tulsa's Alyvia Rogers scored the lone goal in the Golden Hurricane's 1-0 victory Sunday against Colorado College when she found the back of the net on an unassisted goal from 16 yards out in the 49th minute.

Memphis redshirt freshman GK Elise Kuhar-Pitters registered her third shut out on the season as the Tiger defense surrendered only four shots in a 2-0 win over Southern Miss Friday in the C-USA opener.