The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Birmingham-Southern
No. 23 Men's Soccer Defeats Birmingham-Southern, 3-0
9/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 6, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The No. 23-ranked UAB (1-1-1) men's soccer team scored three times in a span of 8:44 to roll to a 3-0 victory over crosstown rival Birmingham Southern (0-3) here Friday night in front of 1,264 fans. The Blazers outshot the Panthers by a 23-9 margin, led by Jose Rayo's seven shots.
"This is the first time we played a full 90 minutes of good, hard soccer this season," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "I thought Birmingham-Southern played a great game and they gave us all we could handle. I was pleased by our guys' effort and certainly pleased with the result. The 3-0 final is not indicative of how close the game actually was."
The first half was dominated by UAB, outshooting the Panthers 10-4 and having six corners to Birmingham-Southern's two. Both teams had good chances to take the lead before the intermission. In the opening minutes, Rayo headed a ball from six-yards out, but BSC goalkeeper Luke Eldridge was right there to make the save. Mike Connely almost gave the Panthers the lead when he headed a corner kick past Blazer goalkeeper Clint Baumstark, however, Mikey Spitzer was in the right place to clear the ball away from trouble.
In the 52nd minute, UAB forward Flavio Monteiro was fouled in the penalty box, resulting in a penalty kick. However, Rayo's shot hit the right post and went out-of-bounds.
The Blazers were finally able to capitalize at the 79:22 mark when senior Jermie Frankson headed in a corner from Kareem Morgan to give UAB the 1-0 lead. Freshman walk-on Steven Sugar scored his first career UAB goal off a pass from Mikey Spitzer in the 86th minute to give UAB a two-goal lead. Just 1:07 later, freshman Dennis Umanzor sealed the victory with a rocket off his right foot from 30-yards out to beat BSC goalkeeper Luke Eldridge.
"We had two freshman play their first career games and each of them scored beautiful, important goals to help us win this one," said Getman. "I was proud of both of them and proud of our team for the way they battled throughout the match."
UAB will continue play in the Nike Classic when they face Rhode Island on Sunday, September 8, at 2:30 p.m. on West Campus Field.
