The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Women's Soccer Set to Host Birmingham-Southern
10/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 18, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB women's soccer team will attempt to defeat its fourth in-state rival of the season on Sunday as the Blazers host the Birmingham-Southern Lady Panthers at 2 p.m. at West Campus Field. UAB has already defeated Alabama, Jacksonville State and South Alabama this season.
"This has become a really big rivalry for us over the past couple of years," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "It began years ago with the men's teams, but now we have adopted it and it's been escalating over the years. Birmingham-Southern is a very good team and they have a lot of talented players on their squad."
UAB (9-4, 5-2 Conference USA) heads into Sunday's intra-city matchup fresh off of its 1-0 victory over Houston on Friday. The win proved to be the Blazers' sixth shutout victory of the 2003 campaign. Against Houston, the UAB defense only relinquished one shot attempt and didn't allow any shots on goal.
Birmingham-Southern will travel across town on Sunday in possession of a 5-8-2 overall record on the season. On Friday, the Lady Panthers extended their home winning streak to three straight matches with a 2-0 victory over Big South Conference rival VMI. Birmingham-Southern played a relentless style of attacking offense on Friday and fired a season-high 27 shots against VMI.
"They (Birmingham-Southern) play very aggressively on the offensive side of the ball and they have the ability to put some shots in the net," Harbin said. "We just need to continue to play our style of defense and let our offense do its job. This has been a really good rivalry over the years and I think that tomorrow's match is going to be just as good."
The Blazers have met Birmingham-Southern two times prior to this season, with the previous meetings coming in 1996 and 2001. UAB owns an unblemished 2-0 all-time record against the Lady Panthers and has outscored BSC, 9-0, in the two matchups. In 1996, UAB posted a 6-0 victory, before the Blazers earned a 3-0 win during the 2001 campaign.
The UAB women's soccer team will look to complete its third weekend sweep of the 2003 season on Sunday as the Blazers host their cross-town rival Birmingham-Southern at 2 p.m. at West Campus Field.
