The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Memphis
Women's Soccer Falls To Memphis In Conference USA Tournament
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 5, 2008
HOUSTON, Texas - The seventh-seeded UAB women's soccer team fell to the No. 2 seed Memphis Tigers, 2-0, Wednesday evening in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament. Despite owning a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal, the Blazers saw their time in the tournament come to an end.
UAB concluded its season with a 7-11-2 overall record and finished seventh in C-USA at 5-4-2. Memphis (13-4-2, 8-2-1 C-USA), which shared the 2008 C-USA regular-season title with East Carolina, advanced to Friday's semifinal round. The Tigers are also the defending league tournament champion.
"Tonight's game was hard fought on both sides," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "It's too bad this was a first round match. Memphis is a very good team and I think that this game would have been a great semifinal or championship game."
After playing to a 0-0 tie at halftime, Memphis got on the board in the 74th minute of the game when Laura Laufenberg found the back of the net to give the Tigers the first lead of the game, 1-0. Lizzy Simonin was credited with the assist on Laufenberg's goal.
Simonin scored a goal from the left side in the 83rd minute, with the assist by Lizzy Hildebrandt, to put Memphis up 2-0 and secure the win for the Tigers.
"I think this game could have gone either way," said senior midfielder Caitlin Marple. "We played them well. It was a little frustrating because they were stepping in front of us and beating us to the ball some. I feel like we gave it everything that we had and left it all on the field."
The Blazers had nine total shots, including six shots on goal on the night. UAB allowed Memphis zero shots on goal in the first half and only gave up two for the entire game.
UAB had multiple scoring opportunities during the game. The Blazers had three shots that hit the crossbar, along with some solid saves by Memphis goalkeeper Elis Kuhar-Pitters.
"We had some great chances to score," said Harbin. "Unfortunately, we didn't find the back of the net on those chances. Memphis' goalie had some good saves and really worked for those saves tonight."
Freshman forward Tiffini Turpin, who was named C-USA's Co-Freshman of the Year, led UAB in shots with three. Junior forward Danya Barsalona and freshman midfielder Carolyn Polcari added two shots each for the Blazers.
Hildebrandt and Ashley Berra paced Memphis with four shots apiece, while Simonin and Laufenberg chipped in three shots each.
Sophomore Kate Blankenship received the loss in goal for UAB, allowing two goals against the Tigers. Kuhar-Pitters earned the win for Memphis, grabbing six saves on the night.
"I'm extremely proud of this team for everything that they have accomplished throughout the season," said Harbin. "They have grown tremendously from the beginning of the year. Losing our two seniors, Nadine Liverpool and Caitlin Marple, will be a big hit to us because of everything that they have done for this program over the past four year. But, I am confident that we have a solid group returning players to continue the proud tradition of UAB soccer."
"Today didn't turn out how we wanted, but I think we still played good," said senior midfielder Nadine Liverpool. "I'm going to miss this team. We are like a family. It's emotional, but this team has a lot of potential for the future with the young, talented players that we have."
