The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
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UTEP
UAB Women's Soccer Ties Undefeated UTEP, 3-3
9/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB women's soccer team scored three goals Friday night and tied the undefeated UTEP Miners, 3-3, at West Campus Field. The Blazers were led by sophomore Sally Palmer, who had all three goals in the first half, and was a major contributor in the second half. UAB is 4-5-1 on the year while UTEP moves to 11-0-1.
"I thought we played well tonight against a very good UTEP team," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "They came in as one of five undefeated teams in the country and it's tough to go 11-0 against any schedule. They showed us why they were undefeated in the second. They came at us in the second half and out played us for about 10 minutes. We were able to get back into our style of play and it turned out to be a great battle."
In the match, Palmer gave the Blazers the early lead in the 13th minute, when she scored off a nice pass from freshman Nasra Abdullah. UAB keeped the 1-0 lead until Palmer would strike again in the 30th minute for her second goal on the night. Sophomore Daelyn Richards was credited with the assist on Palmers second goal.
UTEP found a way to battle back into the game when Brandi Aston scored unassisted in the 33rd minute. The goal cut the Blazers lead in half before UAB would respond.
In the 44th minute, Palmer scored her final goal of the match off an Abdullah corner kick. Palmer made a nice play to head the ball pass the goalkeeper and complete the hat trick. The three goals are a career high for Palmer and bring her season total to four. UAB took a 3-1 advantage into the break but UTEP quickly pulled even.
Shortly into the second half, Kia Sams scored for UTEP off a corner kick to make it 3-2 Blazers. Melissa Abraham scoring the final goal of the evening off a corner kick to tie the match at 3-3.
Both teams continued to play hard for the remainder to the second half before the match went into overtime. UTEP opened overtime with a great scoring chance but UAB applied heavy pressure and disrupted the play. The match would go back and forth for the 10 minutes without a score forcing a second overtime.
In double overtime both teams took a combined five shots without a goal. The match ended with a 3-3 tie.
Defensively, junior Katie Forbis tied her school record for most saves in a match with 16. Forbis set the record with 16 saves against top-ranked North Carolina on Sept. 18.
UAB will host Tulane Sunday at 1 p.m. at West Campus Field. The match was moved up to 1 p.m. due to accommodate prior travel arrangements by the Green Wave.
