Nov. 14, 2008

Box Score

DALLAS, Texas - C-USA Freshman of the Year Austin Neil of top-seeded Tulsa scored off of a long crossing pass in the 54th minute and the Golden Hurricane added a late insurance goal to down No. 5 South Carolina, 2-0, on Friday in the C-USA Men’s Soccer Championship semifinals at Westcott Field on the campus of SMU in Dallas.

With the win, the nationally-ranked Golden Hurricane improved to 15-3-2 and pushed its unbeaten streak to 13 games, having not lost a game since Sept. 13. The 13-game streak is the longest in school history and the 15 wins tie for the most in school history.

Tulsa will look to defend its league title against second-seeded Kentucky in Sunday’s championshp final, which will be televised LIVE on CBS College Sports at 1 p.m. CST.

The clubs played to a scoreless first half on a chilly and windy night in the Metroplex. Tulsa held a slight edge in shots at the break (6-4), but the teams were even on corners (2-2).

First-team all conference goalkeeper Tyrel Lacey of Tulsa had a solid first half in the box, but was the victim of a hard hit late in the period and was replaced by Andy Aguilar for the remainder of the game. Aguilar was solid as well, also stopping four shots in the second half to secure the shutout, the team’s ninth.

Neil banged his goal home off of a long cross from three yards out. C-USA Offensive Player of the Year Ashley McInnes tapped the ball to Justin Chavez who sent a long cross across the box which Neil corralled and banged home.

The goal was Neil’s team-leading 10th on the season and he also leads the Golden Hurricane in points with 24. The assist was McInnes’ seventh, also a team best, and he now has 17 points. Chavez now has two helpers on the year.

Early in the 89th minute, Jeovahnni Sandez added the TU insurance goal when he put a nifty move on a USC defender, moved to the top of box, made another defender miss and then wrapped a nice shot inside the top of the left goalpost for his third goal.

The Golden Hurricane finished the contest with an 18-8 advantage in shots and an 8-4 edge on corner kicks. TU also registered eight shots on goal to none for the Gamecocks.

Carolina keeper Jimmy Maurer, a second-team all-league pick, played all 90 minutes in goal and made six saves in the losing effort.

TU head coach Tom McIntosh, the league’s back-to-back Coach of the Year, had a game plan going in and said that his team stuck to it to pull out the win.

”We really stuck to the plan.” McIntosh said. “We knew we were going to have be patient and we knew they would sit back and sit back and sit back and that is why the first half was scoreless. If we have the ball for 98 percent of the half we are fine with that. We told the guys it was going to take 90 minutes, maybe 90 minutes plus. We just had to be patient and not give away many counter attacks, which is their main threat. I thought our guys stuck to the game plan and once we got the goal it just really opened up. I was really proud of my guys and proud of the effort against a good team.”

For complete C-USA Men’s Soccer Championship information visit www.ConferenceUSA.com