Oct. 14, 2008

Complete Women's Soccer Notebook in PDF Format

Conference USA teams establish their position in the standings, but the second half of the conference season is still left to play. East Carolina remains unbeaten after posting two more wins over the weekend. Colorado College and Memphis are tied for second place. CC will square off with East Carolina in a key match Friday. UCF holds the fourth place spot, and has played four conference games to overtime and posted a 2-0-2 record. UTEP tied the Knights over the weekend and moved into the fifth place spot as well as earned votes in this week's NSCAA Central Region poll.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tiffini Turpin, UAB
Freshman, F, Birmingham, Ala.
Turpin tallied four of UAB's nine goals over the weekend to lead the Blazers to an undefeated weekend at home. In UAB's 5-2 win over Rice on Friday, she scored two goals on three shots, while also adding an assist. On Sunday, she added two goals, one unassisted and one off a penalty kick, in the Blazers' 4-1 win over Houston. For the weekend, Turpin had four goals on eight shots and one assist, tallying nine points in the two games. She now leads UAB with six goals this season, while also adding two assists for a team-best 14 points. Turpin has scored five of those goals in conference play, leading C-USA in that category at this point in the season. This is her first C-USA Player of the Week honor.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kelsey Bakker, Memphis
Sophomore, D, Kennewick, Wash.
Bakker played a huge part in the center backfield for the Tigers as they shut out both Houston and Rice in 1-0 games this weekend. She headlines a defense that notched its fifth combined shutout of the season Sunday, and has a 1.0 goals against average. This is the first Defensive Player of the Week honor for Bakker.

SHOOTING STARS
Memphis sophomore Vendula Strnadova scored the game-winners in both a 1-0 thriller against Rice Sunday and a 1-0 victory over Houston on Friday night.

Freshman GK Jordan Boyle recorded her first shutout at Memphis with a four-save performance in the win.

UCF and Colorado College played Sunday to double overtime, when UCF sophomore D Christina Petrucco scored with less than three minutes remaining to give the Knights a 2-1 victory. It was the first goal of the season for Petrucco.

It was the first loss at home for Colorado College, who is still an impressive 7-1-1 at home.

The freshman duo of Amanda Malkiewicz and Leah Bagonis led East Carolina to a 2-1 victory over SMU to remain unbeaten in league play. Malkiewicz scored the game-winner in the 76th minute off an assist from Bagonis.

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.

East Carolina senior Blair Heffner scored with just four seconds remaining in the second overtime period Friday for a 1-0 Pirate victory against visiting Tulsa.

UTEP's Tameka Sumter scored both goals for the Miners in a 2-1 win over visiting Southern Miss Sunday. e UAB scored nine goals in a pair of wins over the weekend. 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.

McCalla scored the Blazers' first two goals in a 5-2 victory against Rice Friday, while sophomore MF Allison Belsterling also knocked in her first career goal in the match.

Marshall GK Liz Orton made nine saves as the Thundering Herd posted a 2-1 victory over Tulsa Sunday. e Marshall scored two goals in the final five minutes of play, but dropped a 3-2 decision to SMU Friday.

Sarah Benchaita, Kim Peabody and Dylan Jordan each scored for the Mustangs. It was the first goal of the season for Benchaita and Peabody.

Colorado College's Kelly LaVoie fueled a 6-0 Tiger win over Southern Miss Friday with a pair of tallies, while Alexa Bannerman collected a pair of assists. Tiffany Brown, Alison Kreisler, Sydney Fetter and Sarah Wolff also scored for the Tigers.

Rice sophomore F/D Korey Taylor made her return to the Owl lineup against UAB, which is good news as starters Kellen Schugart, Katelyn Ostendorf, Anne Candee, Ashley Lucas and Chandra Ewing have all been sidelined with injuries this season.