Memphis Wins C-USA Women's Soccer Championship
Nov. 9, 2008 HOUSTON, Texas - Memphis repeated as the C-USA Women's Soccer Champions, handing East Carolina its first loss in 13 matches, with a 4-1 win over the Pirates in the championship final Sunday at the Rice University Track/Soccer Stadium. With the victory, the Tigers improve to 15-4-2 and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship. In the 21st minute, Laura Laufenburg took a pass from Lizzy Hildebrant in front of the goal for the first score of the day. Laufenberg was named the Offensive MVP of the Championship and scored her second goal of the tournament. The Tigers scored again in the half when senior Kylie Hayes, the leading scorer in Memphis history, followed up on a deflection by the ECU defense and snuck it into the net and make the score 2-0 at the half Memphis sophomore Vendula Strnadova scored her eighth goal of the season in the 60th minute, but ECU answered less than five minutes later when Madison Keller scored on a header off a throw-in from Savanna Russo. The Tigers put the final score on the board when sophomore Ashley Berra made a long run, got past Campbell and was able to put one in the net for her second goal of the tournament. The four goals is the most scored in a C-USA Championship final since the 1996 season when Cincinnati scored four in an overtime win. East Carolina falls to 14-4-4 after sharing the regular season title with Memphis. The Pirates placed three on the all-tournament team, which is listed below: ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
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