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Saturday, Oct. 26 - Sunday, Oct. 27
Highlights
SMU 7, Cincinnati 1
Garrett McLaughlin recorded his second hat trick of the season in the first 24 minutes of play, then scored two more goals in the second half for the No. 12 Mustangs in a 7-1 rout of AAC-foe Cincinnati on Saturday night.
McLaughlin started the scoring for the No. 12 Mustangs (12-1-1, 3-1-1) in 15th minute, then followed that goal with a second in the 19th minute, both goals were assisted by Knut Ahlander to put the Mustangs up 2-0 early in Cincinnati. Just a few minutes after that, Grant Makela played a long ball to Gabriel Costa who found a sprinting McLaughlin, who beat the Cincinnati (5-9-1, 1-3-1) keeper for a third time, securing his second hat trick of the season.
In the 32nd minute McLaughlin fired a shot that found the goalie's hands, but the ball deflected straight onto the boot of Nicky Hernandez, who then buried it promptly giving SMU a 4-0 first half lead for the second straight match. The Mustangs have now outscored opponents 27-2 in the first half of all 2019 matches.
McLaughlin would keep it rolling in the second half, setting a new career-high for goals scored in a -match with four in the 51st minute. Then in the 64th minute, the Oklahoma City native broke the AAC single-game goals record and tied the 39-year old SMU record when he scored his fifth and final goal of the match, putting SMU up 6-0. The last Mustang to accomplish the feat was Kamal Khalilian, who scored five goals in 1980 vs. Austin College.
The Mustangs would concede a goal in the 65th minute, bringing the score to 6-1.
As both teams made wave subs late in the match, the Mustangs pressed for another goal. That goal came in the 88th minute when Thomas Haney was on the receiving end of a DJ Williams assist, finishing a goal and putting the Mustangs up 7-1 - a score that would hold final.
Temple 2, UConn 1
The Temple men's soccer team (7-6-1, 3-1-1 AAC) earned its fourth-straight win on Saturday night, picking up its first-ever victory over UConn (4-10-1, 1-4-0 AAC) in a physical American Athletic Conference showdown. Two defensemen backed the scoring for the Owls, as sophomore Mickael Borger put the squad on the board first and junior captain Pierre Cayet netted his second header goal in as many games to seal the 2-1 victory over the Huskies.
The Cherry and White have proved to be extremely dangerous on set pieces this season and continued the trend against the Huskies. In the 26th minute, sophomore Esteban Suarez sent in a free kick from about 25 yards out that ricocheted off the left goalpost. A well-positioned Borger darted in to bury the deflection and score his second goal of the season to put the Owls up, 1-0.
UConn responded eight minutes later, netting the equalizer in the 34th minute. Jake Dengler capitalized off a Temple miscue in the box to score his second goal of the season.
The Owls' urgency paid off in the 61st minute when they earned three corner kicks in the span of one minute to test the UConn backline. On the third attempt, senior captain Lukas Fernandes sent an in-swinging corner to the far post, where Cayet positioned himself to bury a header goal and give Temple the lead. Cayet's goal was his second in as many games, scoring nearly the exact same way in Temple's 2-1 win over Louisville on Tuesday.
Tonight's victory over the Huskies marked the Owls' fourth-straight win. This is the Cherry and White's first four-game win streak since the squad rattled off four wins at the start of the 2016 season.
UCF 1, USF 0
The No. 8 UCF men's soccer team prevailed over their rival, the South Florida Bulls by a score of 1-0 on Saturday evening to extend the Knights' unbeaten streak to 12 matches and push their winning streak to three matches.
It didn't take long for the Knights to find the scoresheet in the second half. In the 49th minute, Richard Amon fed a ball into Gino Vivi on the wing. From there, Vivi spun a beautiful ball into the box where Jonas Schmalbach was able to punch it home for the first goal of the match. The score was Schmalbach's second goal of his young career.
With the assist on the goal, Vivi is now riding a three-match point streak. He has collected three assists so far this season to go with his four goals, giving him 11 points in his rookie campaign.
The UCF goal wound up being the only one of the night as Yannik Oettl went on to earn his fourth clean sheet of the season and tenth of his career, making five saves along the way. It didn't come easy as the Bulls applied heavy pressure in the waning moments of the evening.
Oettl made a few brilliant saves in the second half turning aside the three shots he saw in the final 45 minutes. The Bulls outshot the Knights in the second half 10-8, but the UCF defense refused to budge.
Memphis 2, Tulsa 1
Finally taking the pitch after rescheduling from Saturday, the Memphis men's soccer team needed 20 seconds of overtime to take a 2-1 win against conference foe Tulsa Sunday afternoon. The win marks the 10th victory of the season for the Tigers, a total that hasn't been reached since 2011.
After allowing the first goal of the match by Tulsa, an equalizer in the first half set the score for the remainder of regulation. Sam Ashton, returning after missing a pair of games, slotted home the winner.
The first goal of the match would be claimed by the visitors, after a botched clearance left Tulsa with an opportunity and a shooter in place.
Memphis wouldn't stay down long, though, recovering and pressuring after the score. Receiving a beauty of a ball from Gurman Sangha, Peyton McKnatt would punch home his first goal of the year, knotting the score at 1-1.
Goalkeeper Parker Lackland would keep the score even into the close of the half, parrying a pair of shots in the closing minutes from the visitors. Lackland would finish with a season-high six saves.
The Tigers provided a frantic finish to regulation, with shots from Peter Chang and Artur De Luca in the 85th and 87th minutes coming inches from clinching the win without overtime.
Playing in their fifth overtime match of the season, the Tigers knew exactly how to handle the added intensity of a golden goal situation, taking little time to establish offense. McKnatt and Alexandros Ierides connected on passes, ultimately finding their way to Ashton, who finished the Golden Hurricane off with the golden goal.
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