Sept. 26, 2008

Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB women's soccer team opened its Conference USA slate by defeating the No. 20 UCF Knights, 4-1, Friday evening at West Campus Field. The Blazers had four different players score in the victory.

UAB moves to 3-6 overall and is 1-0 in conference play. UCF falls to 5-3-1 on the year and is 0-1 in league games.

"We suddenly had everything come together tonight," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "I thought our organization was tremendous. We were organized as a unit defensively. From an attacking standpoint, we played quickly and had nice moment off the ball.

"We set up a demanding schedule during non-conference so that we could get a lot of experience for the younger players. It helps that our players have had a lot of playing time against quality opponents to get ready for the conference portion of the schedule."

UCF got on the board first in the 38th minute when Amanda Martorana took advantage of an empty goal and put one in the back of the net, with an assist from Amaka Ofuani, to put the Knights up 1-0.

UAB responded with back-to-back goals just before the half. Freshman Tiffini Turpin recorded her second goal of the season in the 43rd minute, with an assist by freshman Carolyn Polcari, to tie the game at one apiece. Just 21 seconds later, Polcari scored an unassisted goal to put the Blazers up 2-1 at the half.

UAB continued its offensive attack in the second half when sophomore Marie Yempuku got the rebound off a previous saved shot and scored her first goal of the season in the 66th minute to give the Blazers a 3-1 advantage. Freshman Laura McCalla was credited with the assist on Yempuku's goal.

The roles were reversed in the 76th minute when McCalla scored a goal, assisted by Yempuku, to secure the 4-1 victory for UAB.

"Tonight was amazing," said Yempuku. "This is the best that we have played as a team. It felt good and it was so much fun.

"I felt like no one was exhausted tonight. We were so organized and everyone was working together. We didn't do any unnecessary work that we didn't have to do."

"It fit together tonight," said Polcari. "It just felt right. Everyone clicked together. We were passing and moving off of each other. It came together and worked well."

The Blazers led in total shots, 17-11, including 12 shots on goal compared to six shots on goal for the Knights.

Turpin paced UAB with five shots on the night, including four on goal. McCalla tallied four shots and senior Caitlin Marple had three.

Hanna Wilde led UCF with three shots during the game. Eight other players had one shot each for the Knights.

Sophomore Kate Blankenship (3-4) got the win in goal for the Blazers, allowing one goal and nabbing four saves. Goalkeeper Aline Reis received the loss for UCF, allowing four goals and tallying eight saves on the night.

UAB will be back in action on Sunday when it hosts Southern Miss. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT at West Campus Field.