The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Memphis (C-USA Tournament)
Late Memphis Tally Beats UAB In C-USA Title Game
11/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 14, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Daniel Dobson's desperation chip in front off an 87th minute rebound trickled past UAB keeper A.J. Robles and Memphis came back from down 2-0 at the half to beat the Blazers, 3-2, in the Conference USA men's soccer championship Sunday afternoon. Memphis (16-3-1) claims the league title after winning the regular season with an 8-1 mark. The Tigers claim C-USA's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament which begins next week.
UAB (12-7-0) dominated the first half as Jason McLaughlin and Sandy Gbandi both scored. McLaughlin, the overtime hero of UAB's 1-0 semifinals win over Charlotte, put the Blazers on the board in the 29th minute when a Shane Elsner offering off a Gbandi corner kick bounded in front. It was McLaughlin's fourth tally in as many games and his sixth in his last eight outings. The score came after a good portion of the first half saw both teams earned fair chances at the nets. Gbandi's 25-yard drive from a Jarbas Carlos pass in the 37th minute put the Blazers ahead 2-0 as the UAB attack converted again.
Memphis answered five minutes into the second period as Adam Montgomery found Marcus McCarty open on the right side of the box. McCarty's seventh goal of the season grazed by UAB keeper A.J. Robles and into the near pocket to make it 2-1 Blazers. His eighth on a slashing header in front from a Cormac McArdle left cross in the 69th minute proved the equalizer.
UAB was playing its second game in less than 24-hours after weather delays wiped out play Thursday, erasing the Saturday day of rest for the semifinal winners.
"It's about as disappointing as it gets," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "I thought in terms of soccer, our guys played brilliantly for 90-minutes. The first half, we played extremely well and controlled the tempo of the game and obviously scored the goals. The second half, we were so tired and so beat up after playing back-to-back games, the guys just didn't have the legs to keep playing, and yet we hit two posts and their keeper made several great saves. We could have scored six and I don't think anybody would have argued with the result.
"But we just didn't have the legs at the end and the last 10 minutes, it was just a scramble. It was the ultimate sort of garbage goal to win it, which is the way it goes sometimes, but I thought our guys played well and gave everything that they had. It's disappointing to have not gotten the day of rest that we thought we would get, and it's disappointing to lose a game I thought we had total control of."
The Blazer offense proved too much for Memphis keeper Sebastian Vecchio, who shutout UAB on Oct. 27 in Memphis. The Argentine senior had registered six straight shutouts coming into the game, a scoreless streak for Tiger foes of 437 minutes dating back to Oct. 17.
Gbandi, McLaughlin and Rogerio Oliveira were all named to the All-Tournament team.
UAB now awaits word on the NCAA tournament which begins Thursday at campus sites around the country. The tournament selection will be made live on ESPN News at 3:30 p.m. (CT) Monday afternoon.
