Oct. 12, 2008

East Carolina completed another successful weekend of Conference USA play, defeating SMU, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon to remain unbeaten in C-USA and in sole possession of first-place in the league. UCF and Colorado College, both regionally ranked teams, played to double overtime until UCF sophomore Christina Petrucco scored with less than three minutes remaining to give the Knights a 2-1 victory.

Memphis knocked off Rice in a 1-0 decision in a match that will be televised on CBS College Sports this Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. Eastern. It was Memphis' second straight win, while UAB scored nine goals in a pair of weekend wins. The Blazer trio of freshmen Tiffini Turpin (5), Laura McCalla (4) and Carolyn Polcari (3) have combined for 12 goals in six conference games so far this season. Colorado College, Marshall, SMU and UTEP also posted wins over the weekend.

East Carolina's 10 wins is just one shy of the school record of 11 set in 1999 and 2002. ECU is also just one conference win shy of matching its most-ever in C-USA as the squad earned six triumphs in 2001, 2004 and 2006.

SMU had the first solid chance of the game in the 12th minute, when Kristin Medeiros found herself with the ball and space at the top of the box. However, her shot glanced off of the crossbar and out of bounds. Nearing halftime, junior Alexis Foltz put the Pirates ahead when she took a nice pass across the box from sophomore Tricia Tufts and powered the ball into the empty net. The score line would stand at 1-0 at the halftime interval. The Mustangs had the slight edge in shots in the stanza, 6-5, while also committing three fouls to ECU's one.

Both squads had good pressure throughout the second half, but it was freshman Amanda Malkiewicz who scored the eventual game-winner in the 76th minute. Freshman Leah Bagonis took the ball towards the SMU box and slipped it to an oncoming Malkiewicz, who took the pass and had a breakaway on Mustang keeper Courtney Webb. She then slotted the ball into the left corner of the net to give the Pirates a 2-0 advantage. SMU received a goal from freshman MF Kaitlyn Eidson just three minutes later, but could not get off a shot in the final 10 minutes as the game ended in favor of East Carolina. It was Eidson's first collegiate goal.

The Pirates outshot the Mustangs 12-11 while SMU committed eight fouls as compared to six for ECU. Foltz' goal is her team-leading fourth in conference matches while Malkiewicz earned her third game-winning tally of the season.

More info available on the East Carolina website and the SMU website.

Sophomore D Christina Petrucco headed in a corner kick from junior Becca Thomas with 2:17 remaining in the second overtime to lift UCF past host Colorado College, 2-1, Sunday. Petrucco's first-career goal enabled the Knights to improve to 3-1-2 in Conference USA and 8-3-3 for the season. It was the first home loss for the Tigers all season, who are still an impressive 7-1-1 at home.

It was the third-straight overtime match for the Knights, which stayed undefeated in OT this year at 2-0-3. Senior Sarah de Leon also headed in a golden goal in overtime at Memphis Sept. 28.

Thomas, who led C-USA with 11 assists last year, set up both goals against Colorado College for her first two helpers of 2008. Meanwhile, Wilde's goal was her third of the season and 13th in her career. Freshman Aline Reis helped the Knights remain tied leading up to the game-winner, making five saves on the afternoon, including two in the overtime periods.

Coming off a six-goal performance vs. Southern Miss Friday, Colorado College sprung to life early Sunday by picking up a Kelly Lavoie marker 3:36 into the match. However, that did not affect the Knights. Almost always finding a way to score a goal at key moments of a match, Wilde took a pass from Thomas off a corner in the 29th minute and hit the mesh to tie it up at 1-1.

UCF hoped to notch the go-ahead score by maintaining possession for the next seven minutes before the Tigers were finally able to march down field for an eventual corner with six minutes left in the half. CC finished the stanza with a 3-2 edge in corners, but the Knights were ahead 7-4 in the shot department.

The UCF offense went back to work after the break, and once again came close to making it 2-1. In the 60th minute, senior Danielle dos Santos broke away from the defense and had a one-on-one with the keeper on the right side, but witnessed her shot to the far post sail just wide.

In the first overtime, the Tigers rattled off six shots with two on target yet could not finish off the Knights. It appeared UCF would have to settle for its fourth tie when the seconds started ticking down in the second OT. But with one final corner in the 108th minute, the Thomas-Petrucco combination struck for the game-winner. Taking it on the left side, Thomas got the call to go far post, where Petrucco timed her leap perfectly and headed it over the goal line

More details can be found on the UCF website and the Colorado College website.

Memphis defeated Rice, 1-0, Sunday at Mike Rose Soccer Complex in a contest which will be aired on CBS College Sports Tuesday, Oct 14 at 6:00 p.m.

Sophomore MF Vendula Strnadova scored her second game-winning goal of the weekend. With just under 20 minutes to play in the contest, Strnadova drove the ball down the center of the field and into the top of the box past a defender. She beat the approaching goalkeeper to net her fourth score of 2008.

Memphis freshman GK Jordan Boyle got the start today after she was a late scratch from Friday night's contest against Houston due to injury. She recorded her first shutout on the 1-0 win and tallied four saves in Sunday afternoon's contest. The Lady Tigers' other freshman keeper Nikki Unland stepped in and picked up her first shutout of her career on Friday night in place of the injured Memphis keepers.

More info available on the Memphis website and the Rice website.

UAB picked up its second straight win with a 4-1 victory over Conference USA foe Houston on Sunday afternoon at West Campus Field.

UAB struck early when freshman forward Laura McCalla scored her fifth goal of the season in the eighth minute of the game, with the assist by sophomore midfielder Marie Yempuku.

The Blazers extended their lead to 2-0 in the 35th minute of the contest when freshman midfielder Carolyn Polcari converted on a penalty kick. The goal was her third of the year.

Houston's Maegan Kiphart headed in a goal in the 42nd minute off a free kick by Jessica Rathweg to make the score 2-1 in favor of UAB at the half.

The Blazers took control in the second half with back-to-back goals by freshman forward Tiffini Turpin. In the 61st minute, Turpin booted in her fifth goal of the season to give UAB a 3-1 lead. She followed that with a penalty kick that found the back of the net in the 72nd minute to secure the 4-1 win for UAB. Turpin now leads all Blazers with six goals this year.

More information can be found on the UAB website and the Houston website.

Marshall earned its third Conference USA victory of the season over Tulsa, 2-1, Sunday morning at Sam Hood Field. The Thundering Herd improve to 5-5-4 overall, 3-3-0 in conference, while the Golden Hurricane dropped to 6-7-2 in the season, 1-4-1 in league play.

Sunday's victory marks the first time since 2002, when Marshall was in the Mid-American Conference, that the Herd has won three conference matches

It also marked the conclusion to Marshall's inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness weekend, where the Herd wore pink jerseys to recognize the devastating disease. The program's Kicks Against Breast Cancer auction includes the pink jerseys the players wore this weekend and bidding will end at midnight, Wednesday, Oct. 15. For more information about the auction and to place a bid, visit the women's soccer page at herdzone.com.

Tulsa took to the board first when Alyvia Rogers placed her first goal of the season in the top left corner of the net. The 19th minute goal was a rebound off Jennifer Kacergis' corner kick.

Marshall would answer in the 33rd minute as sophomore forward Erika Duncan beat the defense and blasted her eighth goal of the season. The nation's 13th-ranked assists per game leader, freshman forward Angela DeSumma, added an assist on the goal. DeSumma now has nine assists so far this season and also tallied three shots, one on goal in the contest.

The Herd clinched the victory at the 39:51 mark as sophomore Marisa Leconte drilled her first goal of the season from 35 yards out to the top right of the net. Senior forward Ali Lizotte assisted the midfielder on the go-ahead score. Lizotte added five shots, two on goal in the victory.

Co-captain Liz Orton registered nine saves, while the Golden Hurricane's Kendall Harclerode had six.

More info available on the Marshall website and the Tulsa website.

UTEP's Tameka Sumter scored a pair of goals for the Miners in the 24th and 47th minutes to go up 2-0 and hold on for a 2-1 win over visiting Southern Miss.

The Golden Eagles were able to cut into the UTEP lead in the 68th minute as Sarah Brusco served a free kick into the box that Bianca Ontiveros converted for her first goal of the season into the right corner of the net.

More information is available on the UTEP website and the Southern Miss website.