The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulsa
Blazers Lose Heartbreaker To Tulsa, 4-3
10/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 21, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's soccer team scored three second-half goals in a valiant comeback effort; however, Tulsa scored two late goals to lead the Golden Hurricane to a 4-3 victory here at West Campus Field. The loss was the first home defeat of the season for the Blazers.
The second half was as wild as any in recent memory, as the teams combined for six goals, the final five coming in a span of 18 minutes. In the most unlikely of heroes, it was late second half defensive sub Joseph Wear, who scored the final two goals in the contest just over two minutes - his first two goals of the season.
Tulsa (7-8, 4-2 C-USA) began the scoring in the 30th minute of action when Eric DeFraitas touched a pass to Jose Parada, who then one-timed a shot from the top of the 18-yard box into the right side of the net, giving his team a one-goal lead. It marked the only goal by either team during the first half.
"I thought we gave up a lot of bad goals all game long," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "If you give up four goals to anybody, you are not going to win many games, especially against a good team. I thought we kept playing hard and scored some nice goals in the second half. But what's plagued us all year is not finishing chances early in the game and giving away soft goals, and that all adds up to losses."
The Golden Hurricane wasted no time extending their lead in the second half. At the 46:35 mark, Tulsa's Matt Thomas fed a pass to a streaking Eric Burkholder. Burkholder then drilled a shot into the top of the net, beating UAB keeper Wes Johnson to give the Hurricane a 2-0 advantage.
That's when the dramatics ensued. UAB (7-6-2, 2-3-1 C-USA) finally broke through at the 65:39 mark when senior forward Jerson Monteiro scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season off a header to cut the lead in half. Sophomore midfielder Two-Boys Gumede took a corner kick and passed it to sophomore midfielder Dejan Jakovic, who sent a cross into the box. Monteiro hit the header, which pounded off the lower portion of the cross bar and into the net.
Just under four minutes later, the Blazers evened the score at two apiece when Jakovic was fouled in the box on a break away. Monteiro finished the penalty kick for his second goal of the contest to bring the Blazers back into a 2-2 tie.
Junior forward Shane Elsner capped the goal barrage when he one-timed a shot off a feed from Gumede to give the Blazers their third goal in 11 minutes and a 3-2 advantage with just under 13 minutes remaining in regulation.
However, Tulsa kept fighting and at the 81:42 mark, their hard work paid off when Wear knocked in a rebound from a shot that hit the post to even the score at 3-3. Finally, just 1:26 later, Wear struck again, this time scoring on a header off a free kick to result in the final margin.
The Blazers outshot Tulsa, 16-12, and controlled the majority of play. However, UAB had several great scoring opportunities that were missed.
UAB will next be in action on Wednesday, October 25, when it takes on top-ranked SMU at 7 p.m. on West Campus Field. It will be the final home game for seven UAB seniors including Michael Biggs, Jeremy Drake, Sandy Gbandi, Chris Hanson, Lukasz Kwapisz, Jerson Monteiro and Derick Radcliffe. Any student who comes to the game and shows a valid ID at the main entrance will receive a free UAB t-shirt, as well as a free dinner.
