A golden goal in the final minute of double overtime kept South Florida in first place in the American Athletic Conference women's soccer standings on Thursday, Oct. 7.

Thursday, October 7
South Florida 2, UCF 1 (2OT) - Box Score
East Carolina 2, Temple 1 - Box Score
Memphis 2, Tulsa 0 - Box Score
Houston 1, SMU 0 - Box Score

South Florida 2, UCF 1 (2OT) - Box Score
ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of South Florida women's soccer team captured a 2-1, double-overtime victory over in-state and conference rival Central Florida in Orlando on Thursday night. The Bulls now have a three-game win streak in War on I-4 contests.
 
Emilie Lajmiri scored the game winner with 48 seconds left in the second period of overtime. Sydny Nasello tallied two assists, while Lucy Roberts scored her second goal of the season in the win. Sydney Martinez also made a season-high eight saves in the match.
 
USF started strong on the attack, taking the lead exactly 23 minutes into the game. Nasello sent a cross to Roberts, who redirected the pass into the net to take the 1-0 lead.
 
After another weather delay, Central Florida responded in the 36th minute with a goal from Dayana Martin.
 
After emerging from the halftime break still tied at 1-1, the Knights offense upped the pressure in the second half. UCF took 13 shots, including four on goal, but Martinez made four saves, including a diving stop in the final seconds of regulation, to push the game to overtime.
 
Entering the last minute of the game, both teams had opportunities in the overtime periods and each keeper had made one save.
 
USF staged one last attack, however. A clearance pass sent up the field found Nasello, who sent another perfectly-placed cross into the box. Serita Thurton headed the ball to Lajmiri, who sent the ball past the UCF keeper with less than 50 seconds on the clock for the 2-1 win.

East Carolina 2, Temple 1 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Goals in either half helped secure a come-from-behind victory for the East Carolina soccer team as the Pirates topped Temple 2-1 on Thursday night in Johnson Stadium.
 
East Carolina picks up its first American Athletic Conference victory of the season and is now 6-7-1 overall with a 1-2-1 league record. Temple drops to 3-5-3 with a 1-3-0 conference ledger.
 
In the past two games, the Pirates had taken the lead within the first 15 minutes, but the shoe was on the other foot on Thursday as it was the Owls who struck first. In the 18th minute, Emily Kavanaugh was able to put the East Carolina defense under pressure and create a turnover just outside the Pirate box. Kavanaugh then went on the offensive and raced in to score, giving Temple a 1-0 lead.
 
Holding the lead, the Owls were content to let the Pirates bring the game to them. East Carolina struggled to create chances for most of the opening 45 minutes because of the Temple defense. That changed in the 42nd minute. Alexia Moore found space 30 yards out and let fly a long shot. Temple goalkeeper Kamryn Stablein looked to be beat, but she was able to leap back and get just enough of a touch on the shot to deflect it off the crossbar. The pressure did not end from the Pirates and a minute later, the ball was shuttled out to the left wing where Morgan Dewey drove into the Owl box. She squared a cross to the penalty spot where Samantha Moxie was waiting. Moxie took one touch to set herself up and then calmly slotted home the tying goal.
 
Moxie's goal gave the Pirates a huge lift coming out of the locker room for the second half and it looked to be just a matter of time until the second goal arrived. Over the first 20 minutes, East Carolina took nine shots compared to one for Temple and the Pirates also had corner kicks.
 
The breakthrough came in the 68th minute and it again came from the left wing.  A pass released Sydney Schnell, who was making season debut, down the left wing. Schnell cut inside a Temple defender and onto her right foot. Like Dewey, Schnell squared a pass to the penalty spot. Like Moxie, Tori Riggs was there waiting and she opened up and tucked her shot into the side netting.

Memphis 2, Tulsa 0 - Box Score
TULSA, Okla. – After a week of no games, the No. 21 Tigers wasted no time getting back to work; they would score in the opening minutes of play to gain an early lead and eventually cruise to a 2-0 win over Tulsa.
 
Following tonight's win, Memphis moved to 9-1-1 overall and 3-0-0 in American Athletic Conference play, while Tulsa fell to 6-6-1 and 1-3-0 in league play.
 
Memphis recorded their first goal of the night less than 90 seconds into the match when Jocelyn Alonzo sent a cross into the box and found the head of Tanya Boychuk who netted her fifth goal of the season for the 1-0 lead.

Aubrey Mister would extend the Tiger's lead to 2-0 when she got her own shot that rebounded off Tulsa's goalkeeper and tapped it in for an easy goal in the 41' of play.

Tigers' goalkeeper Elizabeth Moberg made two incredible saves tonight, one in each half, to keep Tulsa off the board.
 
Tonight's shutout marks the fifth for Moberg this season and her 38th career shutout – tying her for the program record.

Houston 1, SMU 0 - Box Score
HOUSTON – Houston Soccer (10-2-2, 2-0-1 AAC) traveled to Dallas to face SMU (7-2-1, 1-1-1 AAC) on Thursday for the third away match of the most recent string of road tests. The Cougars defeated the No. 15-ranked Mustangs 1-0 at the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium for the first time in program history.
 
This season has been the season of many firsts for the Cougars. So far Houston has defeated two top 15-ranked opponents, UCF and SMU, and has won the most games in a season thus far.
 
In addition to program firsts, redshirt senior Mia Brascia saw a first of her own scoring the game-winning point and her first goal of the 2021 season. She now has recorded eight goals in her five seasons with the Cougars.
 
Houston was able to hold the Mustangs scoreless for 90 minutes of play while out-shooting SMU 11-3. The Cougar defense did its job by keeping the ball away from goalkeeper Mikaela Gracia who only saw three total saves in comparison to SMU's seven.
 
In program history, Houston has faced SMU 19 times holding a 1-15-2 record up until this point. The Cougars now hold two total wins against the Mustangs with the first resulting in a 1-0 SMU defeat in Houston in 2010. Tonight's victory is the first time Houston has been able to overcome SMU on the road in Dallas bringing its 2021 away record to 3-2-1.