Nov. 9, 2007

EL PASO, Texas - In Friday's second semifinal match of the 2007 Conference USA Women's Soccer Championship at University Field on the campus of UTEP Friday night, No. 2 Memphis out-shot No. 3 UTEP 34-5 en route to a dominant 1-0 victory. The Tigers 34 shots are a new C-USA Championship single game record and helped propel U of M into its first championship match in program history.

Tiger forward Ashley Berra scored the eventual game winner in the first half when she put a ball in off a deflection in the 32nd minute. Berra has scored four of her five goals in the last three matches.

Just two minutes later, Tiger defender Halley Jo Sullivan had an impressive save to preserve the lead as she blocked a goal after goalkeeper Isabel Brinoes went wide on a previous save and was out of the goal mouth.

The Tigers out-shot the hosts in the first half, 15-1. UTEP's keeper Brittany Popoff had four saves. The opening period was also a physical one as there were a combined 13 fouls.

Memphis began the second half hot, as they had four corner kicks in a five minute stretch. Senior Caroline Barrett took all the Memphis corners, nearly converting on the last one.

For the game the Tigers registered 11 corner kicks, to the Miners one. Memphis' Krista Turner and Vendula Strnadova both had six shots for the Tigers, while Berra had five and Harumi Someya had four.

UTEP had a few chances to score the equalizer in the second half, but Memphis was able to clear the ball each time and controlled both ends of the field effectively in the final 45 minutes.

Popoff finished the game with 11 saves. Briones recorded three saves and saw little action on her end of the field in the second half.

Memphis improves to 16-3-1 and will face top-seeded UCF in Sunday's championship match. UTEP finishes its regular season at 13-7-2. Sunday's final will be televised LIVE on CSTV at 2:00 p.m. MST.