For the second-straight year the fourth-seeded Tulsa men’s soccer team claimed the American Athletic Conference Championship in a penalty kick shootout, 4-3, after tying third-seed UConn, 1-1, on Sunday afternoon at Corbett Soccer Stadium in Tampa, Fla.  TU also earned the league’s automatic bid in the NCAA Championship.  The Golden Hurricane moved to 7-6-6 on the season, while the Huskies moved to 9-5-6 overall.

 

“We made a mistake on the corner and gave up an early goal, but we fought back and the guys played really well after the first 10 minutes,” Head Coach Tom McIntosh said.  “Miguel got a good goal and from there on we just didn’t want to let UConn counter.  We controlled the vast majority of the game, created a ton of chances, but were unfortunate to not get another goal.  I was really pleased with our fitness level and again today the guys showed that they are tough as nails because they don’t ever give in.”

 

Tyler Leeman put UConn on the board quickly as he headed in a score with just 2:57 ticked off the clock, but Miguel Velasquez got the equalizer in the 42^nd minute to tie the game, 1-1, at the break. 

 

Neither team could find the back of the net in the second period and both 10-minute overtime periods to send the game into PKs to determine the champion.

 

Cole Poppen stepped up to the line first for TU, but missed, while Abdou Thiam put his attempt into the goal for a 1-0 Huskies lead. 

 

The second shots were taken by TU’s Miguel Velasquez and UConn’s Sebastian Brems, and both scored their penalty kicks.

 

Geoffrey Dee punched his attempt in and Fredrik Jonsson missed his to even the shootout, 2-2.  Ray Saari then missed his attempt and Mark Richards scored his to put the Huskies up once again, 3-2.

 

In what could have been the last attempt, Zack Stavrou stepped to the line and punched his PK into the back of the net to force DeAndrae Brown to take his attempt, which failed, which continued the shootout to a sixth attempt.  Michael Mitrik capitalized on his attempt and then Kwame Awuah kicked his shot just high to give Tulsa the conference title on penalty kicks, 4-3.

 

Tulsa had a 23-7 lead in shots, including a 7-4 advantage in shots on goal, and a 5-2 lead in corner kicks. 

 

Mitrik, Saari, Velasquez and Zach Jackson each had a team-best three shots, while four others had two attempts and three had one shot.  Jake McGuire logged all 110 minutes in goal and picked up three saves.

 

For their efforts in the tournament, Lesley Nchanji was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player, Bradley Bourgeois was the Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and Bourgeois, Nchanji, Geoffrey Dee, Miguel Velasquez and Jake McGuire were selected to the all-tournament team.

 

The NCAA Championship bracket will be announced tomorrow at 12:00 pm Central on NCAA.com.

 

Scoring Summary

Tulsa   1          0          0          0          -           1

UConn            1          0          0          0          -           1

 

Individual Scoring

Tyler Leeman (UConn) at 2:57 (Kwame Awuah)

Miguel Velasquez (Tulsa) at 41:21 (unassisted)

 

Goalkeeper Saves

Jake McGuire (Tulsa) – 3

Scott Levene (UConn) – 6

 

Penalty Kicks

Cole Poppen - no

Abdou Thiam - yes

Miguel Velasquez - yes

Sebastian Brems - yes

Geoffrey Dee - yes

Fredrik Jonsson - no

Ray Saari - no

Mark Richards - yes

Zack Stavrou - yes

DeAndrae Brown - no

Michael Mitrik – yes

Kwame Awuah - no

 

-TulsaHurricane.com-