Oct. 19, 2008

East Carolina closed a four-game C-USA homestand on Sunday afternoon against UTEP. On the strength of a second half strike from junior Jessica Swanson, the Pirates produced a 2-1 win to remain in sole possession of first place in the league and clinch a spot in the 2008 C-USA Championship.

With the victory, the Pirates tied for the most overall (11) and C-USA victories (6-0-2) in a season in program history. Additionally, senior GK Amber Campbell tied Amy Horton for the school career record for saves with 352. Campbell now owns the East Carolina career records for shutouts, goalkeeper minutes and saves.

UTEP put the pressure on the Pirate defense early in the contest. The Miners nearly scored the first goal of the game in the fourth minute when Tameka Sumter stole the ball from the defense and broke in on Campbell. However, Campbell was in good position to knock the ball out for a UTEP corner.

Despite the constant pressure on the ECU backline, it was a freshman who put the Pirates ahead. A seemingly harmless goal kick by Campbell bounced past everyone on the field except forward Kimmy Cummings, who found the ball in the right side of the box and lifted it over Miner keeper Chandra Morden and into the right netting to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, UTEP equalized when Cara Nordin drove into the box with the ball and found an unmarked teammate, Brandi Aston, who easily put the ball away to even the contest. The game would remain 1-1 at halftime as the Miners enjoyed an 8-6 advantage in shots.

Just eight minutes into the second half, UTEP was dealt a crucial blow when Jordan Freiburg was sent off with a red card for a tackle. East Carolina then found more space in the midfield, which opened up its attack. A Pirate corner in the 65th minute proved to be valuable as Nicole Moore served a nice ball that found the head of Swanson, who found the back of the net for the game-winner. Despite being down a player in the last 30 minutes, the Miners still possessed the ball but could only record a single shot.

Memphis won its fourth C-USA game in a row with a 4-2 win over Tulsa on Sunday. The Tigers put up a season high four goal performance on Sunday and reached the 10-win plateau (10-4-1) for the fifth year in a row.

Memphis sophomore defender and C-USA Defender of the Week Kelsey Bakker headed in her first goal of 2008 just under nine minutes into game giving the Tigers the early 1-0 lead. Sophomore MF Vendula Strnadova was slightly off on a shot as it hit the post, but freshman F Lizzy Simonin was there to put back the rebound past the Tulsa goalkeeper for her fifth score of her career. Simonin's goal put Memphis up 2-0 only 12 minutes into the contest.

The Golden Hurricane chipped into the lead as they scored 44 seconds after Simonin's goal; however, the Tigers would strike again. At the 21 minute mark, sophomore F Ashley Berra netted her second goal of the weekend and third of the season from 20 yards out making the score 3-1 heading into halftime.

Freshman Nikki Unland who registered four saves in the contest replaced fellow freshman Jordan Boyle in goal to start the second half for the Lady Tigers. Boyle registered two saves in the first period. Tulsa again pulled within one score at the 72 minute mark, but the Lady Tigers would also find the net once more in the second half. At the 75 minute mark, Strnadova launched a free kick past the Tulsa keeper which put the game away and gave the Lady Tigers a 4-2 victory. Strnadova has scored in the Lady Tigers' last four games and leads the team with six goals on the year.

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

Kelly LaVoie stepped up and took charge on Sunday, striking for the game-winning goal and adding an assist to lead the Tigers to a 3-1 victory over host Marshall. CC, which now occupies third place all alone in the C-USA standings, improved to 11-4-2 overall and 5-2-1 in league play.

Ericka Baer staked the Tigers to an early lead, scoring on a 35-yard rocket just 2:28 into the match after taking a pass from LaVoie. Marshall pulled even at 14:21, as Kristen Berquist headed Angela DeSumma's corner kick past freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Hulyo.

LaVoie put the visitors ahead to stay with 2:50 left in the first half, hammering home a rebound from eight yards out after MU keeper Liz Orton got a piece of a shot by Meredith Smith. It was her sixth goal of the season, tying a career high set during her freshman year.

Sydney Fetter added an insurance tally midway through the second half as Colorado College raised its road record to 4-3-1 and surpassed last year's overall victory total with three regular-season matches remaining before the C-USA playoffs.

More details can be found on the Colorado College website and the Marshall website

UCF was determined not to go to overtime for the fifth-straight match, scoring four first-half goals en route to a 6-0 victory over Houston Sunday at the UCF Soccer Complex. The six goals were the most the Knights scored in a match since a 9-0 win vs. Lipscomb in 2004.

Junior Brianna Schooley set a career-high with six points Sunday, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists. Classmate Yvonne George, meanwhile, notched a season-best five points on a pair of goals and one helper.

Making her first start in net, senior Jessie Gardner helped UCF record its largest shutout victory in four seasons in Conference USA. She played just over 84 minutes and made four saves vs. the Cougars. Junior Lynzee Lee completed the shutout by making one save in 5:24 of work.

After outshooting Houston 16-1 in the first half, UCF finished with a 29-11 cushion in the shot department, the most attempts since 36 shots vs. UTEP in 2007.

The first chance of the match came at the feet of Schooley. Taking a pass from senior Danielle dos Santos, Schooley evaded a defender in the box but saw her shot glance off the right post. But it didn't take long for the Knights to have another opportunity, as they started to have numerous corner kicks.

On the Knights' second corner in the seventh minute, junior Becca Thomas hooked up with dos Santos, yet her back was to the goal. That did not stop her from attempting a bicycle kick, which a Houston back had to make the save on since UH keeper Shelby Scott was on the opposite side of the net. The rebound, however, went straight to junior Courtney Whidden and she easily slammed it home for her fourth goal of the season.

Not satisfied with a one-goal margin, UCF made it 2-0 in the 26th minute thanks to a perfect pass from Thomas. Controlling the action at midfield, Thomas saw George hoping for a breakaway and sent a pass just over the Cougar defense. George was able to stay onside and as soon as the ball was airborne, she found herself all alone with the keeper. One quick move to the left, and George had it by herself for her first goal of the day and Thomas' second assist.

The half was far from over, and UCF struck for two more goals in a 39-second span in the 34th minute. Similar to goal No. 2, Schooley connected with a pass through the defense to sophomore Amanda Martorana. She also managed to beat Scott in front of the net and had little trouble scoring her fourth goal of 2008. While the fans were still celebrating, Schooley gained possession right away and this time did not take aim at the posts, instead she went top shelf from 20 yards for the unassisted marker and a 4-0 cushion entering halftime.

Houston provided Gardner with some action in the second half, ripping four shots on goal, but the UCF netminder continuously put herself in position to keep the Cougars off the board. With the match already out of reach for UH, Schooley picked up another assist on George's fourth goal of the year in the 85th minute on an attempt that glanced off Scott's glove and into the top right corner. George and dos Santos then set up the sixth and final goal in the 86th minute, when Schooley placed another ball under the crossbar from 12 yards out.

More details available on theUCF website and the Houston website.

UAB earned a 2-1 road win over Conference USA foe SMU Sunday at Wescott Field. Freshman Carolyn Polcari scored both goals for the Blazers in the victory over the Mustangs.

SMU took the first lead of the game in the 56th minute when Kristin Medeiros knocked in a goal, with assists by Devon Herrman and Katie Leonard, to put the Mustangs up 1-0.

UAB responded in the 69th minute when Polcari took a corner kick and curled it into the net to tie the game at one-all. Polcari followed that with her second goal of the game, and her fifth of the season, in the 81st minute on a shot from approximately 16 yards out to put UAB up 2-1 and secure the victory for the Blazers.

UAB held a slight edge in shots, 13-11. The Blazers tallied seven shots on goal, while the Mustangs had six.

Polcari had a team-best seven shots for UAB, including four shots on goal. Freshman forward Tiffini Turpin had two shots and four other Blazers added one shot each.

Logan May paced SMU with two shots on the day. Nine other players took one shot apiece for the Mustangs.

Sophomore Kate Blankenship earned the win in goal for UAB, grabbing five saves and allowing one goal. Goalkeeper Ashley Gunter received the loss for SMU, but tallied five saves on the day.

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

True freshman Hope Ward scored a goal and notched two assists to lead Rice to a 4-0 Conference USA road win over Southern Miss Sunday afternoon in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Ward played a role in each of the Owls' first three goals, including the game's first score of the day early in the contest. In the game's 18th minute, sophomore Korey Taylor made a steal at midfield and broke free with a long dribble in the middle of the field. Taylor passed to Ward, who eluded one defender before passing off to junior Erin Scott sprinting right beside her. When the Southern Miss defense shifted over to contain Scott, Ward broke away from the traffic to get open in front of the goal. Scott completed the give-and-go with a quick pass back to Ward, who drove a shot from inside the 18 past the USM keeper for a 1-0 lead.

The goal was the first of Ward's collegiate career, but the freshman wasn't finished from contributing to the offense. In the 33rd minute, Ward drove a right-side corner kick into a crowd in front of the goal. The serve found a leaping Alexa Coralli, who headed the ball at the six yardline to the back of the Golden Eagle net. It was the first career goal for the Owls' junior defender and doubled the margin to 2-0.

Ward added her second assist of the game in the second stanza. The former Houston area player high school of the year from Kingwood brought the ball down into the attacking third on the left side and made a strong crossing pass to junior midfielder Shelley Wong in front of the goal at the 18. Wong settled the ball and blasted her only shot attempt of the day for Rice's third goal. It was Wong's team-leading eighth goal of the season.

The Owls stretched the margin to 4-0 with a final score in the 80th minute. Junior Kellen Schugart popped a pass to Erin Scott who took a shot attempt from a wide angle out on the left wing. The strike just found the inside netting on the right side for a sensational looking goal that put an exclamation point on the team's four-goal outburst.

Southern Miss out-shot Rice 13-11 for the game, but Rice goalkeepers Meghan Erkel and Catherine Fitzsimmons combined to preserve the shutout on the defensive side. It was the Blue & Gray's third shutout of the season and the team's first since early September.

With a double-overtime win at UCF on Friday, the Owls posted victories in back-to-back C-USA road games for the first time since joining the league.

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