The American Athletic Conference went 6-0 in women's soccer action on Sunday, Sept. 5, including a top-10 victory by UCF over No. 7 Penn State.

Sunday, Sept. 5
East Carolina 2, VCU 0 - Box Score
Houston 2, Louisiana 0 - Box Score
Tulsa 5, Kansas City 1 - Box Score
UCF 2, No. 7 Penn State 1 - Box Score
Cincinnati 5, Eastern Illinois 0 - Box Score
Memphis 3, Alabama 1 - Box Score

Saturday, Sept. 4
Temple 1, Rider 1 (2OT) - Box Score

East Carolina 2, VCU 0 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – A pair of header goals in the opening half propelled the East Carolina soccer team to a 2-0 win over visiting VCU on Sunday afternoon in Johnson Stadium.
 
The Pirates improve to 4-2-0 on the season and have won three straight matches for the first time since 2018. VCU drops to 4-2-0 on the year.
 
East Carolina has been a slow starting team this season, having never led at halftime and only scoring two first-half goals coming into Sunday's match. That trend looked to continue as ECU took three shots in the opening 30 minutes, two of them saved and another missing the goal frame. However, it was a set-piece in the 32nd minute that saw ECU break the deadlock for the second straight game. This time, it was a corner kick that saw Morgan Dewey use her left foot to send an in-swinging cross towards the VCU far post. Kim Sanford was the first to react and she was able to rise up and head home for her second goal of the season.
 
It looked like Sanford's goal was going to be the only tally of the opening half as the clock ticked under 15 seconds remaining. Suddenly though, Lindsey Aiken found space on the right side of the VCU penalty area. Aiken lofted a cross into the six-yard box where Peyton Godbey was waiting to score on a header of her own. It was the second goal of the season for Godbey and the first collegiate assist for Aiken.
 
VCU nearly got a goal of its own just two minutes into the second half. Aisha Maughan lined up a shot from the corner of the ECU 18-yard box that looked like it was heading into the back of the net, but the attempt crashed off the Pirate crossbar and away to safety.
 
The Rams tried to press to get back into the contest, but the Pirate defense held stout, allowing just six shots in the second half. Maeve English made a pair of stops for ECU while the rest did not hit the target, allowing the Pirates to close out the victory with a clean sheet.

Houston 2, Louisiana 0 - Box Score
HOUSTON – Houston Soccer continues to remain unbeaten with a win against Louisiana Lafayette on Sunday at the Carl Lewis International Complex. The Cougars have now improved to 5-0-1 on the season.
 
Goalkeeper Mikaela Gracia earned her third clean sheet in a row by shutting out the Ragin' Cajuns (2-4-0) with her impressive performance in the net. This is also her third clean sheet of the season and second clean sheet this week. During her 90 minutes in the net, Gracia recorded seven total saves.
 
Redshirt freshman Nadia Kamassah saw her second start of the week and season which both resulted in goals. For two matches in a row, Kamassah has recorded the game-winner for the Cougars. She scored against the Ragin' Cajuns early in the 34th minute with freshman Anna Reysa's first assist of the season.
 
Senior defender Emma Clarke was also a standout in today's match playing 90 minutes which resulted in another clean sheet for her this season.
 
The second goal of the match was scored in the 68th minute by senior Kayla Izaguirre with an assist by graduate student Zionah Browne. Izaguirre put the ball in the net for her first goal of the season and posted a season-high amount of playing time seeing 60 minutes on the field. With the assist to Izaguirre, Browne is now up to a total of six assists this season.

Tulsa 5, Kansas City 1 - Box Score
Megan Nielsen scored two goals, while Addyson Guthrie, Isold Runarsdottir and Ashlyn Fernandez each tallied a goal to give the Tulsa women's soccer team a 5-1 win over Kansas City on Sunday afternoon at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium.  The Golden Hurricane moved to 3-2-1 on the season, while the Roos fell to 2-3 overall.
 
This marks the fourth-straight game without a loss for TU (3-0-1).  The last time the Hurricane put together four games without a loss was during the 2015 season.
 
Guthrie put Tulsa on the board at the 19:23 mark off an assist from Runarsdottir, and then nearly 10 minutes later Nielsen punched in a score off a pass from Karsen Aguirre.  TU maintained that 2-0 lead at the break.
 
In the 53rd minute it was Runarsdottir who flicked in a goal off a shot attempt by Mia Darden, but a quick goal by Kansas City's Sophia Limongi off a free kick in the 55th minute made the score 3-1.
 
Ashlyn Fernandez scored off a long ball passed to her by her sister, Liliana Fernandez, at the 81:10 mark, and then Nielsen found the back of the net with her second goal as she beat her defender in the box for the final 5-1 score.
 
Jadyn Chee had a team-best five shots, while Kayla Fernandez added four attempts, and Guthrie and Nielsen both had three shots.  Raegan Beeding saw her first game in goal on the season, picking up one save in 90 minutes.

UCF 2, No. 7 Penn State 1 - Box Score
ORLANDO, Fla. – In a rain-soaked match, the No. 18 ranked UCF women's soccer team weathered the storm to upset No.7 Penn State 2-1 Sunday evening.
 
The first half started with Penn State controlling possession but around the 15-minute mark the tide started to turn as the Knights gained control of the ball.
 
Ten minutes later, in the 26th minute, UCF found the back of the net on a Kristen Scott goal. Penn State would respond almost five minutes later on a goal from just outside the 18 and the 1-1 score would stand going into halftime.
 
Five minutes into the second half, the rain and lightning started, stopping the match for two hours and 22 minutes.
 
Once the Knights got the ok to play, Kristen Scott did what she did earlier in the game and found the back of the net giving the Knights a 2-1 lead on the seventh ranked team in the country. With 11 minutes left in the game, Penn State fired a rocket to UCF goalkeeper Caroline DeLisle's left where she went full extension to make an incredible save to hold on to the Knights lead.
 
UCF would withstand an offensive attack from the Nittany Lions over the last ten minutes to hold on to win 2-1.

Cincinnati 5, Eastern Illinois 0 - Box Score
CINCINNATI -- It was all Bearcats, all the time on a beautiful Sunday evening in Gettler Stadium, as the Cincinnati soccer team routed Eastern Illinois, 5-0. It marked UC's third-straight victory, all at home, improving to 4-1-1 on the season.
 
It also concluded an emotional weekend honoring the late Ally Sidloski. UC honored its former teammate with a memorial walk Friday night in Gettler Stadium and participated in a halftime tribute at Saturday's football game.
 
The Bearcats opened the first half with sustained pressure in the offensive-third. Karli Royer got her third goal in as many matches with a right-footed striker from the edge of the penalty area. The Bearcats kept up the pressure and Vanessa DiNardo got her third goal of the season when she slotted her right-footed shot in the bottom corner from inside the penalty box. The first half got even better for the Bearcats after Paige Miller got her second goal of the season. Camryn Hartman swung in her cross from the left wing and Miller got her foot on it to push it over the line.
 
The second half started off strong for the Bearcats and Tang made it 4-0 in the 66th minute. She collected a cross from Miller, kept her cool, and passed the ball past a diving goalie. Tang got her second goal of the match in the 77th minute. Hartman's shot off the corner resulted in a rebound which fell right to Tang and was able to put it in through the defenders.
 
UC had a 17-4 shots advantage, including 12-0 in the first half, plus an 11-0 margin in corner kicks.

Memphis 3, Alabama 1 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Tigers got a big push from their offense tonight as they recorded the 3-1 win over Alabama after two goals from Tanya Boychuk and a goal from Mya Jones.
 
Following tonight's match, the Tigers moved to 5-0-1 for the season. Memphis remains as one of two American Athletic Conference teams to not drop a match this season.
 
The Tigers got on the board first when Lara Kazandjian found Tanya Boychuk in the box and she headed one in past Alabama goalkeeper, Brooke Bollinger, in the 39' of play.

Alabama would answer back with a goal of their own from Leah Kunde just 43 seconds following Boychuk's goal.

Boychuk netted her second goal of the game in the 66' when Momo Nakao found her open deep in the box to give Memphis the 2-1 lead.

Mya Jones put the Tigers up even further when she scored a goal in the 73' after Jocelyn Alonzo found her open at the top of the box.

Temple 1, Rider 1 (2OT) - Box Score
PHILADELPHIA – Temple women's soccer (0-2-3, 0-0-0 AAC) recorded their third draw of the season on Saturday night against Rider (1-2-1, 0-0-0 MAAC) with a final score of 1-1. After the Broncs found the go-ahead goal in the 32nd minute, the Owls wasted no time, netting an equalizer just three minutes later to secure the draw. 
 
After 32 scoreless minutes, Nikki Arlington netted the first goal of the game off an Ailis Martin assist to secure the 1-0 lead.

Just three minutes later, the Owls capitalized off a corner kick opportunity sent in by Marissa DiGenova. Through the scramble, Emily Kavanaugh made contact with the ball, sneaking a shot past Rider goalkeeper, Ellie Sciancalepore for the equalizer.

Despite multiple attempts from both teams, the game remained scoreless for the duration of regulation.

The Owls showed a hard pressing offensive performance out of the gate in overtime, almost clinching the win off a Phoebe Hollin shot in the 93rd minute. Hollin sent a one-timer from inside the box towards the goal, but it sailed slightly high, ringing off the crossbar to keep the Broncs alive.

Rider found an opportunity of their own on a fast break down the field by Lindsey Maslow. With the defense on her back, Maslow looked for the game winner, but goalkeeper Kamryn Stablein came up big with a save. The Broncs gained possession of the deflection, firing off another shot but Stablein stood strong, saving the game yet again.