Nov. 3, 2004

Box Score

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Senior Jenny Rynders recorded her first-career hat trick and the UAB defense was stellar once again as the UAB women's soccer team posted 4-1 victory over Memphis in the opening game of the 2004 Marriot Conference USA Women's Soccer Tournament at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.

Rynders, combined with the stingy UAB defense overwhelmed the Tigers as the Blazers advanced to the semifinal round to face the Marquette, who edged Charlotte, 2-1, on Wednesday afternoon. UAB improved to 13-5-1 on the season and extended its winning streak to five games. The Blazers have won 11 of their last 13 games. Memphis feel to 11-8-0 overall with the loss.

Rynders, a Marietta, Ga., native scored all three of her goals in the second half as UAB turned a tenuous 1-0 halftime lead into a comfortable victory. Rynders became the third UAB player to record a hat trick this season, and the second player in as many games. Senior Tara Kidwell owns three hat tricks on the season and fellow senior Liz Bosscher turned the trick for the first time in her career in UAB's regular-season finale against DePaul on Oct. 29, leading the Blazers to a 7-2 win.

"Anytime you play a team twice it is a little bit harder because they know you and you know them, but we just came out and dominated," said Rynders. "We struggled a little bit in the first half but got a goal and then came out and played better in the second half, but it does not matter as long as we keep winning."

"Fortunately I was just in the right place for a couple of those goals that I scored, but my teammates gave me great balls so it was not hard to score once that happened," said Rynders.

The Blazers took an early 1-0 lead as C-USA Offensive Player of the Year Tara Kidwell nailed a shot from roughly five yards out at 41:59 with the assist credited to Bosscher. The goal was Kidwell's 14th of the season. Bosscher took control of the ball and passed it in front of the box to Kidwell, who then snuck the ball past Memphis goalkeeper Natalie Haerens into the right corner of the net.

Memphis had a pair of chances off corner kicks in the 24th minute, but UAB goalkeeper Katie Forbis stood strong and did not allow a score. Forbis, a Memphis native, finished with three saves as the UAB defense held the Tigers to a mere five shots in the game.

"I think the first thing we knew going into this game was that when we give our best it will be better than anyone else's , and we knew that even before we came up here," said Forbis. "We tried to do that today and there were a few times when we lost control of the game, but we were always able to get ourselves reorganized and get the job done."

UAB had several chances to extend their 1-0 lead throughout the first half, as first freshman Jill Porto missed wide right after a free kick, as the ball just glanced off the right corner of the net. Forward Jessica Barr took a shot with just over five minutes remaining in the half which hit off of Haerens and then the left post, but dribbled out of bounds. The Blazers held their 1-0 lead at the half. The Blazers held the Tigers to just one lone shot in the first half while taking seven.

The Blazers began the second half much like the first, as Rynders scored off of a corner in the 48th minute, with the assist going to Bosscher. Rynders would strike again in the 55th minute as she took a clean pass from teammate Jennifer Williams and rifled a shot from roughly 18 yards out past Haerens into the back of the net to make it 3-0.

Memphis ended UAB's bid for a shutout when forward Carla Scanniello received a pass from teammate Shoko Mikami, who had weaved her way through the Blazer defense, and found the net past a diving Forbis to cut UAB's lead to 3-1.

Rynders capped the scoring in the 87th minute as she headed a ball into the right corner of the net following a corner kick by Bosscher to make it 4-1. Bosscher finished with three assists.

UAB took 16 shots, 10 on goal, and had four goals to go with three assists, as the Blazer offense was extremely efficient and productive. UAB has now allowed just three goals in its last four games. Forbis also made an incredible play with just over 26 minutes left in the match as she leapt and batted away a piercing shot by Mikami to preserve the 3-1 lead. A shot following a Memphis corner kick also sailed wide, as the Tigers could not add to their lone score.

"It is hard to beat a team twice and especially in a span of about two weeks because both teams know a lot about each other so that also makes it more difficult," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "I thought our team did well and I thought we came out and played well for the first 10 minutes and it paid off with the goal, but then I thought we sat back a little bit and allowed them to start dictating play and I think they controlled the rest of the first half," said Harbin.

"They put a lot of pressure on us and forced us to play a different style than we are used to, so I am happy that our team was able to regroup at halftime and come back out and play our style of play," said Harbin.

"I felt like in the second half we had some good movement off the ball and allowed the ball to work a little bit more and that gave us a chance to not have to battle for everything as we did in the first half," said Harbin. "When you play three games in four days you do not want to have to fight for it every minute so we made the game a little bit easier in the second half. We were also fortunate that we had some good finishing."

The Blazers will face Marquette at 5 p.m. on Thursday in what will be the first meeting between the two teams this season. UAB will be playing the Golden Eagles for the first time since the 2002 season. Marquette is seeded third in the tournament. With a win over Marquette, UAB would be awarded a day of rest on Friday and advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. championship game.