Championship Central
Box Score
STORRS, CONN. – No. 2 Tulsa defeated No. 3 SMU, 2-0, in the American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship semifinals Friday evening at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. The Golden Hurricane advanced to the championship game with the win and will face the winner of No. 1 UConn and No. 4 USF in the title game on Sunday.
Tulsa (11-5-2) scored their first goal of the game in the 34th minute on an unassisted goal by Abe Matamoros. Matamoros found the back of the net off a deflection by an SMU defender.
The Golden Hurricane led 1-0 at the half and held a one goal advantage for the majority of the game until Cameron Drackett scored at the 72:27 mark, pushing Tulsa lead to 2-0.
Matamoros, who assisted on Drackett’s goal, finished with three points in the game. The Golden Hurricane led 16-9 in shots and held a 9-6 advantage in corner kicks. Goalkeeper Jake McGuire made four saves for Tulsa, while SMU’s Michael Nelson stopped four shots in the net.
Damian Rosales, Idrissa Camara and Stanton Garcia had two shots apiece for the Mustangs, who fell to 10-6-2 with the loss. Akeil Barrett logged a team-high four shot attempts for the Golden Hurricane.
Sunday’s championship match will begin at Noon ET, and can been seen live on ESPN3 and tape delayed on ESPNU on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. ET.