HOUSTON - Two first half goals and five second half saves by Elise Kuhar-Pitters helped No. 9 Memphis (9-0-0, 1-0-0 C-USA) claw past Houston (3-6-0, 0-1-0 C-USA) on Friday in the Conference USA opener for both women's soccer squads at Robertson Stadium in Houston.

"Tonight's game was a tale of two halves," head coach Brooks Monaghansaid. "I thought we came out and played really well in the first half and went into the lockeroom feeling confident. You have to credit Houston because they came out of the lockeroom with a lot of energy in the second half. We made a big time mistake in the back and they capitalized on it."

After both teams came up with big saves in the first three minutes of the match, Kylie Davis provided the Lady Tigers first goal of the match in the 11th minute. Christabel Oduro dribbled up the field, crossed the ball to her left and fed the ball to Davis for the score. It was Davis' second goal on the season and Oduro's second assist.

Taylor Isenhower increased the Memphis lead to 2-0 in the 27th minute. Just after checking into the match, Isenhower found an opening in the Cougar defense and fire the shot past Houston goalkeeper Cami Koski for the score. It was Isenhower's third goal of the season becoming the fourth player to score three or more goals on the season.

The Lady Tigers were tested early as Kylie Cook placed a shot on frame just two minutes into the match. The Memphis netminder Kuhar-Pitters came up with the save, but the Cougars earned a corner kick on the play. After Memphis cleared the corner, Lizzy Simonin played a free kick on the other end of the field, fired a shot on frame, but Koski made the save.

Kuhar-Pitters made another big save early in the second half as Jessica Zavalza fired a shot from 20 yards away directly to the middle of the goal. The shot hit the crossbar, bounced off the turf, before Kuhar-Pitters snagged it for the save. Houston scored in the 53rd minute to set the score at 2-1. Kuhar-Pitters bounced the ball prior to a punt, lost control allowing Zavalza to get a foot on it and fire it to the back of the net for the goal. With the Houston goal, Kuhar-Pitters' program-record scoreless streak ended at 580:36.

The Cougars attack placed two more shots on goal within the next 10 minutes, but Kuhar-Pitters came up with saves. In the 57th minute, Sami Sackos had a breakaway chance, but Kuhar-Pitters denied the opportunity with the save on the 10-yard shot. Later, in the 61st minute, Kelsey Zamora placed a header on frame off a Houston corner kick, but Kuhar-Pitters once again denied the Cougars.

Memphis outshot the Cougars 13-9 in the match and Kuhar-Pitters finished the match with a season-high six saves, five in the second half. Oduro lead the Lady Tigers with four shots, three on goal. Koski recorded seven saves for Houston.

"We weathered a storm tonight with the way Houston played," Monaghan said. "We were able to come away with a victory and teach a lesson of playing a consistent 90 minutes."

The U of M scored two or more goals in the first half for the third time on the season. For the ninth-straight game, the Lady Tigers kept their opponent scoreless in the first half. Davis' 11th minute goal gave the Lady Tigers an eighth different player to collect two or more goals on the season. Memphis wins its conference road opener for the seventh-straight season and improves to 8-7-2 all-time in a conference opener. The Lady Tigers improve to 15-3-3 on the road in league play since the 2007 season and 30-6-3 overall. Memphis improves to 9-0-0 on the season, the best start and longest winning streak in program history.

The Lady Tigers stay in Houston and head across town to face Rice (6-2-1, 1-0-0 C-USA) on Sunday at 1 p.m. Memphis' next home match is Oct. 7 versus SMU.

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