Oct. 10, 2008

Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB women's soccer team cruised to a 5-2 victory over Conference USA foe Rice Friday evening at West Campus Field.

UAB improves to 4-9 overall and 2-3 in league play. Rice falls to 7-5 on the year and 3-2 in conference games.

UAB's first two goals were courtesy of freshman forward Laura McCalla. McCalla scored her first goal in just the second minute of the contest, followed by a second goal in the 21st minute that was assisted by freshman forward Tiffini Turpin to put the Blazers up 2-0.

Rice got on the board in the 24th minute when Kate Edwards knocked in a ball that bounced off of the crossbar after Hope Ward's previous shot.

UAB responded when Turpin added a goal of her own in the 41st minute, assisted by freshman Carolyn Polcari, to give the Blazers a 3-1 advantage at the half.

UAB kept its offensive attack going with a pair of goals in the second half. Turpin recorded her second goal of the game, and her fourth of the season, in the 69th minute with an assist from junior forward Danya Barsalona. In the 79th minute of the contest, sophomore midfielder Allison Belsterling knocked in her first career goal off of a rebound shot from Polcari to put the Blazers up 5-1.

Rice added one final score in the 82nd minute when Jessica Ross scored with the assist from Nikki Storness to make the final score 5-2 in favor of UAB.

"I think we have played two games in a row with a tremendous amount of passion," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "I was very proud of them at the UTEP game last Sunday. Even though we were disappointed with the loss at UTEP, I told them after the game that I felt very good about the base that we built that game and it was definitely a game that we could build from.

"Tonight was our second game playing in our new system that we put in. I think we have finally found something that works well for the personnel that we have. They have responded well to the new system and tonight they played with a lot of passion and played very intelligent."

Both squads took 10 shots on the night, including eight shots on goal for UAB and four shots on goal for Rice.

McCalla and Turpin paced UAB in shots with three apiece. All three of McCalla's shots were on goal, scoring on two of the occasions. Turpin had two shots on goal and found the net both times.

"With this new system, I think that we are starting to put it all together," said Turpin. "We are a lot more comfortable now and things are really clicking for us now. This system is allowing us to create a lot more shots on goal and we are able to finish a lot better now."

"It feels really go to get this win tonight," said McCalla. "We have really come together and have been working really hard since the UTEP game last weekend. We have changed a few things that have worked better. It seems that people were open more tonight and we were able to get better chances."

Rice had three players record a team-high two shots on the night, including Edwards, Ward and Shelley Wong.

Sophomore goalkeeper Kate Blankenship earned the win for the Blazers, nabbing two saves on the night. Meghan Erkel and Catherine Fitzsimmons both saw time in goal for Rice, with Erkel receiving the loss after allowing four goals and tallying three saves in over 72 minutes in the net. Fitzsimmons played the final 17:08 for the Owls, giving up one goal to the Blazers.

"It always nice to get a win over a quality team like Rice," said Harbin. "They are very well coached by Chris Houston. She does a phenomenal job with her team and for us to be able to play as well as we did against a team that is coached as well as Rice is, it's a very positive thing."

The Blazers will be back in action on Sunday when they host Houston. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT at West Campus Field.

"We need to remember what this game felt like," said senior midfielder Caitlin Marple. "We need to get ourselves pumped up for every game. We have to remember what we are capable of doing and go out there and do it every time."