Aug. 23, 2008

Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB scored two first-half goals, but allowed Georgia State to score twice in the final 15 minutes to finish in a 2-2 tie in the final exhibition game of the season. Both teams battled heavy rains throughout the contest, as the remnants of Hurricane Fay came through the Birmingham area Saturday.

The Blazers played a majority of their starters for the opening three-quarters of the contest, before pulling them for the younger players. In all, 21 UAB players saw action on the evening.

"I thought we played well through the first 75 minutes, but gave up some bad goals in the end," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "At the end of the day, it's an exhibition game, but you would still like to get the result no matter who is on the field.

"It was raining so much that I didn't even know if we would be able to get this game in or not," Getman continued. "It was a great preseason match and whether you won or lost really didn't matter. We got out of this game what we needed to and that's always a good thing."

The Blazers struck first with a pair of goals just a minute apart. Junior midfielder Two-Boys Gumede opened the scoring in the 35th minute when he scored on a penalty kick, set up by senior Frank Brown. The goal was Gumede's second in as many preseason contests.

Just over a minute later, senior forward Shane Elsner put one in the back of the net off an assist from freshman Andrew Barsalona, giving the Blazers a commanding 2-0 lead. Barsalona set up the goal when he flicked a header onto the feet of Elsner, who beat the Georgia State keeper into the lower left side of the net.

Following halftime, the Blazers kept the pressure on the Panthers' defense. Brown nearly gave UAB its third goal of the game, but his header from 10-yards out hit the crossbar and was cleared away.

Georgia State began its comeback with the first of two goals by Stephan Minyono in the 76th minute, with a header that beat UAB goalkeeper Tucker Stone into the upper right side to cut the Blazer lead in half. The Panthers eventually would tie the game in the 87th minute when Minyono hammered home a rebound even the score.

The Blazers used 11 substitutions during the contest, compared to only one sub by Georgia State. UAB had nine corner kicks to the Panthers' four, but were outshot 14-11 on the night. With the tie, the Blazers finished the preseason slate with a 1-0-1 record.

"Overall I am pleased," Getman said of the Blazers' preseason. "We got to play a lot of people, so to put some different combinations together to see how that works is a good thing. I think we still have a ways to go and a lot of things to improve, but we are way ahead of where we were this time last season."

UAB will begin regular season play next weekend, when it travels to Memphis, Tenn. to participate in the Memphis Classic on Aug. 29 and 31. The Blazers open Classic play with a 3 p.m. kickoff against Oral Roberts on Friday. On Sunday, UAB will close the weekend against Bradley at 3 p.m. Both games can be followed live on Gametracker.