Oct. 26, 2006

MEMPHIS - The Memphis women's soccer team will finish its regular season Friday in Birmingham, Ala. against UAB with a chance to reach double digit wins for a third consecutive year.

Memphis (9-6-2, 5-2-1 C-USA) has already clinched a spot in the Conference USA Tournament next week in Dallas. However, the Lady Tigers are still battling for a high seed and know that they will need to play their best game to beat a tough Blazers squad.

"We're excited to close out the season and are looking forward to the postseason," said Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan. "They have a really good team, and we're going to need to play at a high level if we're going to have a chance to win."

UAB also earned a spot in the conference tournament last week with a 3-1 win against Rice on Sunday. The Blazers dropped their Friday match to Houston 1-0.

"I feel like every time we meet up with UAB it's a great match," said Monaghan. "I don't know that I would necessarily say we have a rivalry developing with them, but it seems to always make for good soccer. They're definitely a team that we look forward to playing and could be facing again next week."

Memphis keeper Isabel Briones will have a chance to breakthe Memphis career wins total Friday. The junior got her 21st career win against Houston on Sunday to tie the record held by Katrina Wicksell.

Lady Tiger forward Shoko Mikami is back on top of the league offensively. The senior is currently tied for the conference lead in points (29), points-per-game (1.71), goals (12) and goals-per-game (.71).

Kickoff for Friday's match is scheduled for 7 p.m.