University of Houston Athletics

Houston Defeats UCF for First Time in Sunday Action

04.11.21

Cincinnati and East Carolina earned spots in the 2020 American Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship, to be held April 15 and 17 in Tampa, Fla, while Houston defeated UCF for the first time in action on Sunday.

Sunday, April 11
USF 1, Cincinnati 1 (2OT) - Box Score
Memphis 1, East Carolina 0 - Box Score
Houston 3, UCF 1 - Box Score
Tulsa 7, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7 - Box Score

USF 1, Cincinnati 1 (2OT) - Box Score
CINCINNATI - An 84th-minute goal by Sophie Gorman knotted things up at 1-1 and helped earn the University of Cincinnati soccer team a double-overtime draw with No. 15 USF on senior day, Sunday in an American Athletic Conference matchup at Gettler Stadium.
 
Prior to the match, UC honored its four-member senior class of Gorman, D Riley Gruenbaum, GK Madison Less and D Karli Royer.
 
Gorman corralled the ball off a header from a USF player who deflected a Lauren Bastian cross at the top of the arc, let it bounce on the ground and one-timed a brilliant in-swinger while falling down and beat a diving USF keeper with the score just inside the post. The senior from Cincinnati gave a leaping fist bump and was mobbed by her teammates after her first score of the season.
 
The Bearcats (4-4-1, 3-3-1 AAC) draw locked up UC's spot in the 2021 AAC Tournament, set to take place this coming week at the home of regular-season champion USF.

Memphis 1, East Carolina 0 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis' Clarissa Larisey scored the match's lone goal 14 minutes in, and the Tigers defense did the rest as the UofM celebrated 2020-21 Senior Day with a 1-0 American Athletic Conference victory over East Carolina Sunday. The match was played at the Billy J. Murphy Soccer/Track and Field Complex on the University's Park Avenue campus.
 
Prior to the action, the Tigers honored the 2020-21 senior class of Larisey, Samantha Murphy and Lisa Pechersky. In their four seasons, the seniors have a 53-15-4 record (entering the 2021 postseason) and have won an AAC Tournament title (2018) and an AAC regular-season crown (2019).
 
With the win Sunday, the Tigers finish the regular season with an 8-2 overall record and a 6-1 conference mark. Memphis is the AAC Tournament's No. 2 seed in next weekend's event, which is being hosted by USF. The Pirates drop to 3-5-2 overall and 3-3-2 in the AAC.
 
After each team had an scoring opportunity in the opening 10 minutes, the UofM struck in the 14th minute when Caroline Duncan sent a long ball to Larisey down the right side of the field. Larisey picked up Duncan's pass and dribbled into the box, where she planted a 12-yard shot to the upper righthand corner of the net.

Houston 3, UCF 1 - Box Score
ORLANDO – The 2021 regular season closed with a historic victory as the Houston soccer team secured a winning season by defeating UCF 3-1 for the first time in program history on Sunday night in Orlando.
 
The victory is the first ever for Houston (6-4-1, 3-4-0 AAC) over UCF (2-4-1, 2-4-1 AAC) after 15 previous meetings. The Cougars owned one draw, coming in 2011, and 14 losses before this victory. UCF, a 21-time NCAA Tournament participant, is regularly a contender for the conference crown. 
 
With the victory, the program also achieves a winning season for the first time since 2010 and only the fifth time in the 21st century. The six overall victories and three Cougar conference victories also tie the team's 2019 totals despite a shortened season. 
 
Houston got off to a blazing start with two goals in the first eight minutes of the contest. Zionah Browne scored the first of the contest, and her fourth of the season, in the 5th minute. Only a few minutes later Maddie Dichiara scored her first as a Cougar off a corner kick to put Houston up early. 
 
After UCF had broken the shutout, the Cougars added a second goal just 39 seconds later to maintain the two-goal advantage.

Tulsa 7, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7 - Box Score
The Tulsa women's soccer team ended their season with a 7-0 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday afternoon at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium.  The Golden Hurricane posted a 2-6 overall record, while the Golden Lions finished the year with a 4-9 mark.
 
Tulsa tallied five goals in the first half from five different players, while five players also earned assists.  Neha Igwe added a second goal in the second half, while the seventh goal was added by a sixth different player.
 
Madison Tokarchik scored from 18 yards out on the left side off a pass from Emily Brandenburg at the 18:34 mark.  Just under four minutes later Tokarchik earned an assist as she sent a corner kick into the box and Isold Runarsdottir headed in the ball from a yard out.  Igwe picked up a pass from Gabriella Borboa, took the ball up the middle and drilled in a kick that was tipped by the keeper at the 24:08 mark to make it 3-0.
 
In the 31st minute, Emilie Torres scored from right to left off a pass from Emma Ebert, and then in the 37th minute Grayson Schimmels went one-on-one with the keeper and scored from 15 yards out with Jordan Martinez recording an assist to put the Hurricane up 5-0 heading into halftime.
 
Igwe tallied her second goal of the contest at the 53:37 mark.  She scored from five yards out off a cross from Borboa.  Selma Vidgren drilled in a put-back attempt with just 50 seconds to play for the final 7-0 score.