The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulsa
Women's Soccer Suffers 4-1 Loss at Tulsa
10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 17, 2010
TULSA, Okla. -- The UAB women's soccer team took a 1-1 tie into halftime against Tulsa, but three second-half goals propelled the Golden Hurricane to a 4-1 win Sunday afternoon at Hurricane Field. Sophomore midfielder Emily Sinovich tallied her second goal of the season as the Blazers fell to 6-8-2 overall and 2-4-2 in Conference USA.
"I thought the team did a good job in the first half of doing the things we asked of them and focusing on our key points for the game," UAB head coach Paul Harbin said. "But we came out in the second half and we were just flat."
Tulsa (7-8-1, 2-5-1 C-USA) took a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute on Jordan O'Brien's goal, but the Blazers responded six minutes later with the equalizer. UAB strung together passes from junior forward Laura McCalla and freshman forward Sam Bradford before Sinovich buried a shot to make it 1-1.
The two teams stayed knotted at one heading into halftime, but the Hurricane quickly broke the tie thanks to forward Claire Nicholson's hat-trick within the first 10 minutes of the second frame. Nicholson scored three goals within a 3:12 span, tallying the tiebreaker in the 51st minute.
"We gave Claire Nicholson time and space and she took advantage of that," Harbin said. "Once we settled back in, it was a good game until the end. But you can't give a good team and a good player the freedom that we gave her at that point. It was a lapse in focus for our team."
Tulsa owned a 14-9 shot advantage, while UAB out-cornered the Hurricane, 5-4. The Blazers mustered five shots on frame, but were unable to capitalize on the later chances.
The Blazers return to West Campus Field for its final homestand of the 2010 season this weekend. UAB hosts Houston Friday at 7 p.m. and concludes the weekend against Rice Sunday at 1 p.m.
