Saturday, Feb. 6
Tulsa 1, No. 10 UCF 0
Alex Meinhard scored the lone goal of the contest in the ninth minute to give Tulsa a 1-0 upset over #7/10 UCF on Saturday night at the UCF Soccer and Track Complex in Orlando, Fla. TU moved to 1-0 on the season, while the Knights fell to 0-1 on the year.
Meinhard, a redshirt freshman, scored his first career goal with just 8:59 ticked off the clock. He picked up a forward pass taken by Mitchell Cashion from 25 yards out and headed the ball into the goal from 10 yards out from left to right.
"I was proud of the guys tonight," Head Coach Tom McIntosh said. "I thought we started exceptionally well, and our passing was pretty good in the first half. Alex was quite good and scored a great goal. I thought defensively we were excellent. We defended the danger areas very well, and our wide defending was pretty good, as well as our set piece defense. I am super proud of the guys for their competitiveness and their concentration level for the 90 minutes. It was what we needed tonight. This group has battled a lot of diversity, individually and collectively, but they have hung in there and stayed true to the process and I am proud of them for that. They've worked exceptionally hard and it was good to get that first win. We have to enjoy this and then get ourselves ready for Memphis next week."
Both teams had nine shots, while TU had a 3-2 edge in shots on goal. The Knights had a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Meinhard had a team-best five shots, three of which were on goal, while Johan Juarez added two attempts, and both Luke Jeffus and Jonathan Cervantes had one shot. Lucas Cline logged all 90 minutes in goal and picked up two saves.
No. 8 SMU 2, Memphis 0
The SMU men's soccer team opened the season with a 2-0 win over Memphis on Saturday afternoon at the Track and Soccer Complex in Memphis.
The Mustangs, who entered the season as the American Athletic Conference favorite after winning their third consecutive conference tournament championship in 2019, are ranked No. 5 in the College Soccer News Poll and No. 8 in the Top Drawer Rankings.
"Earning three points on the road is never easy in this league," said Head Coach Kevin Hudson, "We are happy to start the season off with a win. We produced a competitive performance, but we can play much better. There is a lot of work left, and we look forward to getting back to work next week."
Tobin Shanks opened the scoring for the Mustangs in the 45th minute with his first collegiate strike to put the Mustangs ahead, 1-0, and secure the season-opening victory. Noah Hilt was credited with the assist on the goal, the third of his career.
Thomas Haney added an insurance goal for SMU in the 73rd minute, giving him his third career tally, to put the Mustangs up 2-0 off a helper from Knut Ahlander. Ahlander was the nation's leading assistant man in 2019 with 13 total on the season.
Shane Lanson earned the clean sheet in goal for SMU with three saves.
Temple 3, USF 2
The Temple men's soccer team (1-0-0, 1-0-0 AAC) took down USF (0-1-0, 0-1-0 AAC) to secure a victory in the season opener. The Owls paced an exciting, back and forth affair with three goals to earn their first season-opening victory since 2016.
How it Happened
>It was apparent early that the AAC foes would be in for a high scoring affair. Just 39 seconds into the match junior midfielder Jalen Campbell fired the first the game. It was on target for the top right corner but was saved. USF struck back with a shot of their own at the 4:36 mark that was saved by goalkeeper Nikolas Harmann.
> The Bulls struck first and struck quickly. USF forward Victor Claudel drew first blood only 4:49 into the match to hand the Owls their first deficit of the young season.
> Temple was able to capitalize on a USF miscue at the 30-minute mark to even up the score at 1-1. Brady O'Connor intercepted an errant pass just outside the USF penalty box and fed it along to an open Campbell who fired into the back right corner of the net for Temple's first goal of the season.
> After surviving a pair of shots and a corner from the Bulls, Temple was able to capitalize off an incredible assist from senior Estaban Suarez. Possessing the ball near midfield, the Mexico native launched a pass that was able to connect with the right foot of a streaking Amir Cohen for the second Temple goal of the night.
> USF came out hot in the second half. In only the 49th minute, Oscar Resano was able to find midfielder Josue Monge at the top of the penalty box. Resano then cut towards the middle of the field and fired a shot that sliced away from Harmann and into the back of the net, tying the game at two apiece.
> After alternating attacks, the Owls would break the tie in the 70th minute. Possessing the ball near midfield, Mike Eijgendaal found Mickael Borger deep in the USF zone. Borger, running along the right side of the field, zipped towards the front of the net where Campbell was waiting to tap it home for his second tally of the night.
> Temple dominated the late game. The Cherry and White had three shots opposed to USF's one in the last twenty minutes and controlled possession despite a late push by the Bulls. Temple started the season off right with a 3-2 victory.
Game Notes
> Campbell doubled his goal total from the entirety of last season with his pair of scores.
> Five Owls earned at least one point. All five players were of international origin. Temple is second in the American Athletic Conference in terms of international players on the roster (13).
> Temple and USF combined for five goals. This is the most points scored in a Temple season opener since the 2000 season opener when the Owls defeated Drexel in a match that was also won 3-2.
From the Coach
> "We committed to everyone being ready," said head coach Brian Rowland. "I think we showed a ton of heart, and a ton of character. To come back twice, we scored two goals in a row. The weather created a difficult environment, while playing a team that was pushing late to find a way to tie the game. All those things are the things you can't replicate in training. So to pass that test and get through it is a credit to the team"