Oct. 17, 2010

Box Score

Box Score

DALLAS - Returning to Westcott Field in Dallas, Texas for the first time since winning its third-straight Conference USA Championship last season , the University of Memphis women's soccer team posted a 3-0 victory at SMU on Sunday.

After a header by junior midfielder Lizzy Hildebrandt was saved by a SMU defender, senior forward Ashley Berra gathered the loose ball inside the box and gave the Lady Tigers a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the match. Berra scored her fourth goal of the season on the assist by Hildebrandt and the goal was the earliest Memphis has scored this season.

With the goal, Berra climbed to third place in career points at the U of M. Berra has amassed 78 points on her career and passed former Lady Tiger Shoko Mikami (2004-06) who registered 77 points in her career. With her 30th career goal, Berra joins former Lady Tigers Jodi Fisher (33) and Kylie Hayes(43) as the only Memphis women's soccer players to have 30 or more goals in a career at the U of M.

Memphis defenders held SMU without a shot for the first 30 minutes of the game. Shelby Hartweck fired a shot at 30:07 that was saved by Lady Tigers netminder Elise Kuhar-Pitters. Just over a minute later (31:15), Hartweck gathered the ball and registered another shot that was saved by Kuhar-Pitters.

The Lady Tigers came out of halftime and quickly increased the lead to 2-0. After a shot by Vendula Strnadova just inside the 18-yard box was deflected out of bounds by SMU goalkeeper Courtney Webb, Strnadova played the corner kick in bounds to junior defender Lizzy Simonin. The quick kick to the left side of the 18-yard box found Simonin wide open and she fired a howler to the back right portion of the net for her second goal of the season. Strnadova collected her fifth assist on the play.

Strnadova added an insurance goal for Memphis in the 82nd minute with a shot from the top of the box to the upper 90 of the net. Freshman Emmaliegh Davis was credited with her first career assist as Strnadova picks up her 23rd career goal. Kuhar-Pitters earned her eighth victory of the season in net and her fifth shutout of 2010, making four saves on the afternoon. With the shutout Sunday, Kuhar-Pitters has 20 career shutouts and she registers her 32nd career victory.

With Sunday's victory, Memphis earns an 11-win season for the seventh-straight season. The 2010 senior class ties the 2006-09 class as the winningest class in school history with 59 wins.

With the road victory on Sunday, the Lady Tigers are 14-3-3 on the road in C-USA play the last four seasons. Memphis improves to 35-1-1 in games which they score three or more goals since 2005.

Memphis returns to the Bluff City for a three-game homestand to close the regular season. Rice and Houston visit Mike Rose Soccer Complex on Oct. 22 and Oct. 24, respectively. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.