Oct. 7, 2007

No. 11 SMU, Kentucky and South Carolina all picked up conference wins during the weekend, while Memphis and Tulsa battled to a 3-3 tie. Kentucky was the final team to open conference play in the 2007 campaign.

South Carolina won its fourth straight match with a 3-1 road win at Florida International Sunday. Sophomore midfielder Jeff Scannella scored in his third consecutive game, freshman forward Blake Brettschneider contributed his third tally of the year and junior midfielder Brennan Williams scored his first career goal.

Carolina dominated the offensive end of the pitch, as the Gamecocks out-shot the Panthers 17-9, including an 11-5 upperhand on shots on goal. Brettschneider paced the South Carolina offense with five shots, including three on net, while Williams and J.D. Moon contributed three and two shots on goal, respectively. Scannella added his first assist of the season in the match, while Moon tallied his second helper of the year on Williams' addition.

Freshman goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer anchored the Carolina defense, collecting four saves, while allowing one goal in just over 80 minutes of play. Senior goalkeeper Geoff del Forn also made an appearance for the Gamecocks. In goal for the Panthers, Kyle Thomas managed eight saves in the complete-game effort.

Scannella sent a perfect strike into the upper left corner from just beyond the 18-yard box in the 36th minute for a 1-0 South Carolina lead heading into the halftime break. In didn't take long for USC to extend its lead in the second half, as Brettschneider connected on a header from Scannella's corner kick in the 51st minute to push the lead to 2-0.

Williams scored his first collegiate goal on a breakaway in the 68th minute, and FIU's Cory Kendall netted his first tally of the season in the 80th minute for the deciding 3-1 Carolina victory.

Sophomore defender Barry Rice's goal in the 82nd minute Saturday lifted Kentucky to a 1-0 win against UAB in the Conference USA opener for the Wildcats, at the UK Soccer Complex. Rice's third goal of the season, which tied him for the team goal lead with forward's Tim Crone and Aaron Swanson, helped the Wildcats (3-5-2, 1-0 C-USA) to their second consecutive victory.

The Blazers (5-5-1), who posted a signature win against No. 10 Indiana on Sept. 21 in front of 2,275 fans, were without their two top scorers due to injury. Juniors Dejan Jakovic, a MAC Hermann Trophy candidate, and Frank Brown have combined to score 10 of the Blazers' 16 goals on the season.

The two teams played scoreless soccer until the 82nd minute when junior midfielder Masumi Turnbull lofted a corner kick from the right side to Rice, who played it off his chest and volleyed it off the crossbar into the back of the net. The goal capped off a strong offensive performance for the Wildcats, who had a dominant 11-4 advantage in shots.

Kentucky ignited its offense early as Rice narrowly missed the goal on a free kick in the 11th minute from 25 yards out. UAB goalkeeper Wes Johnson dived to punch away the shot and foil the Cats' scoring opportunity.

Just minutes later, Swanson launched a shot in the box to Luke Maitland. Maitland's diving attempt was deflected out of bounds to thwart the scoring chance.

The Blazers' only legitimate scoring chance in the opening period came in the 43rd minute when Michal Mravec sent a shot towards the goal that was stopped by Rice. UAB was unable to convert on the ensuing corner kick as the teams went into the locker room at intermission locked in a scoreless tie.

Three different SMU players scored goals to lead the No. 11 Mustangs (6-2-2, 1-0-1) to a 3-1 victory over visiting UCF (4-6-1, 0-1-1) Saturday night at a rain-soaked Westcott Field.

Junior midfielder Jeff Harwell put the Ponies on the board in the 14th minute. Sophomore forward Dane Saintus fired a shot off UCF goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who blocked the shot but knocked the ball toward Harwell, who pounced on the loose ball and drilled a shot from eight yards out to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. Johnson tallied a career-high eight saves for the Knights.

In the 63rd minute, junior forward Richard Oliva worked a perfect wall pass (give-and-go) with Saintus, taking the pass and scoring from 14 yards out when his shot deflected off a UCF defender and into the goal.

SMU got its final goal in the 80th minute on a free kick, when midfielder Bruno Guarda stepped over the ball as a decoy and defender Ryan Mirsky curled a 25-yard blast into the upper left corner of the net.

UCF got its goal in the 86th minute when Mike Matteson converted a pass from Akin Akindinade. The Knights had more chances, but SMU sophomore goalkeeper Craig Hill made several spectacular saves in his second career start.

Mirsky's goal was his second of the season, and the third of his career. Oliva's goal now gives him a team-leading five goals this season and tie him with Saintus for second on the team scoring list with 10 points.

Tulsa battled Memphis to a 3-3 double-overtime tie on Friday night at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium. TU moved to 5-2-2 on the season and 0-0-2 in Conference USA, while the Tigers moved to 5-1-3 on the year and 0-0-1 in the league.

Michael Coburn put the Tigers on the board in the 26th minute from 12 yards out, while Ryan Ruble knocked one in with only 45 seconds left in the first period to give Memphis a two goal cushion going into the break.

Jose Parada recorded his first goal of the season in the 67th minute off a pass from Zach Nulisch. Diego Henriquez then added his first goal of the season to tie the contest, 2-2, at the 75:13 mark.

Kevin Walsh put the Tigers up 3-2 in the 84th minute, but Todd Goddard answered with his seventh goal of the season as he headed in a pass from Eric Burkholder in the 85th minute, forcing sudden victory. TU and Memphis dueled it out for the two 10-minute overtime periods, but the score remained tied 3-3.

The Golden Hurricane out-shot Memphis, 25-11, including an 11-6 ratio in shots on goal. Tulsa goalkeeper Dominic Cervi registered three saves on the night, while Tyler Strom notched eight saves for the Tigers.

Walsh found the back of the net with just over 10 minutes left in the game on a rocket from the top of the box that shot past a sprawling Creighton goalkeeper in a 3-1 non-conference loss to the No. 10 Bluejays on Sunday.

Marshall (7-3-1, 1-0-0) drew a 0-0 tie against non-conference host Liberty Saturday afternoon. The Thundering Herd is undefeated in its last seven straight matches. Marshall is off to its best start since the 2001 season, when the Herd began with a 9-1 record. Junior goalkeeper Craig Ratanamorn earned the second shutout of his Marshall career and lowered his C-USA leading goals against average to .51. The Wichita, Kan., native has 32 saves in six games. The Herd managed eight shots on offense with only two on goal, while Liberty created 19 chances with only five shots on goal. Seniors Jeff Lenix and Jermaine Johnson paced the Herd with two shots each.