Oct. 14, 2005

Box Score

Memphis, Tenn. - Junior midfielder Melissa Savage scored the lone goal of the game in the 82nd minute and goalkeeper Isabel Briones made nine saves to lead Memphis past UAB 1-0 on Friday evening. The win marks the Tigers' first win over UAB since 2002, breaking a three-game losing streak and it is also the second straight year that Memphis has defeated the defending Conference USA champion at home during the regular season after topping DePaul last year.

The game was very much even for the majority of the game. Both teams had 12 shots apiece in the first half and Memphis held a slim margin in shots overall, 18-16, outshooting the Blazers 6-4 in the second half. Both teams also had three corner kicks apiece.

Both teams appeared to have scored one time apiece during the game. With just over 20 minutes remaining in the first half, Savage shot a ball off a pass from Shoko Mikami that appeared to go in but the ball actually went just wide and hit the side of the net. Then, in the second half, UAB's Sally Palmer hit the post with a point blank shot and then Daelyn Richards gathered the rebound and looked to have another shot in but her shot actually bounced off the crossbar and somehow did not cross the goaline.

Finally, after over 82 minutes of scoreless soccer, Mikami sent a crossing pass from the right side of the field over to Asuka Kubota on the left side. Kubota headed the ball from the near post over the far post. Despite having UAB keeper Katie Forbis get her hand on the header, the ball wound up at the feet of Savage just inside the far post about seven yards out. She put it past Forbis to the upper left corner for the only goal of the game. It was her second straight game with a goal.

"Everyone played well," said Memphis coach Brooks Monaghan. "We really drilled into their minds this week that this would be a very tough game and it lived up our expectations. It was an outstanding effort on everyone's part to get a quality conference win over a quality opponent and it really puts us in a good position in the conference."

Briones made a season-high nine saves to record her fifth shutout of the year. Forbis made seven saves for the Blazers. The Tigers improve to 9-4-0 overall with the win and 3-1-0 in Conference USA.

Memphis will travel to East Carolina next Wednesday, October 19 for a 12:30 central time makeup game against the Pirates. They then return home for their final homestand of the year beginning next Friday vs. UCF at 7:00 p.m.

Postgame Notes: Savage's goals in back-to-back games marks the fifth time this year that a Tiger player has accomplished that feat. This comes about after she didn't score a single goal or record a point in the Tigers' first 11 games ... Other Tigers that have scored goals in back-to-back games this year are Mikami (3 times) and Kylie Hayes (once) ... Briones' nine saves were the most this year and the second most in her career. Her career high in saves is 12, set last year against UAB ... This was just the second game of the year that neither Mikami or Hayes scored a goal and the first game that neither of them have scored in in which the Tigers were not shut out. The only other game in which neither of them scored was against Southeast Missouri State, a game the Tigers lost 1-0.