With a 2-0 win over Memphis on Friday night at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium, the Tulsa men’s soccer team earned the No. 2 seed in the American Athletic Conference Championship that will be played next week at USF.  The Golden Hurricane moved to 9-4-4 on the season and 4-2-1 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Tigers fell to 8-8-1 overall and 2-4-1 in the league.

 

“It was a tough game,” Head Coach Tom McIntosh said.  “I thought Memphis played very well.  They bottled us up in the first half and we weren’t able to create a lot of good chances, but our guys hung in there and in the second half it opened up a little bit.  Jacob Gooden scored a tremendous goal and then Matt Puig made a run on a counter and got the PK.  Our back line was pretty good through much of the night.  I am happy for the seniors with senior night and getting the win.”

 

The game was scoreless until the Golden Hurricane’s Jacob Gooden knocked in a goal from 12 yards out as he flicked the ball over the Memphis keeper at the 72:55 mark off a pass from Alejandro Chavez.  Matthew Puig punched in a penalty kick in the 86^th minute for the 2-0 lead.

 

Tulsa had a 14-11 lead in shots, while the Tigers had a 14-8 advantage in shots on goal, and TU had a 5-2 lead in corner kicks.

 

Puig, Rollie Rocha, Kay Duit and Zack Stavrou all had two shots, while six other Hurricane players had one attempt.  Jake McGuire logged all 90 minutes in goal, picked up eight saves and earned his 16^th career shutout on senior night.

 

Prior to the game, TU honored seniors Ray Saari, Quinton Duncan and McGuire.

 

Tulsa will return to action on Friday, November 11 in the semifinals of The American tournament, which will be hosted by USF in Tampa, Fla.  The bracket will be announced at a later date when all of the regular season matches have concluded.

 

Scoring Summary

Tulsa               0          2          -           2

Memphis         0          0          -           0

 

Individual Scoring

Jacob Gooden (Tulsa) at 72:55 (Alejandro Chavez)

Matthew Puig (Tulsa) at 85:35 (penalty kick)

 

Goalkeeper Saves

Jake McGuire (Tulsa) – 8

Jake Leeker (Memphis) – 3

 

-TulsaHurricane.com-