The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Santa Clara
Tyler Strikes, Blazers Beat Santa Clara 1-0
10/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's soccer team defeated Santa Clara 1-0 on Tuesday night. The Blazers only needed one goal, coming from the foot of freshman Tarnue Tyler, as they played fantastic defensively to limit the Broncos of scoring chances. UAB improves to 5-3-3 overall while Santa Clara falls to 5-4-0.
"This was a really important win for us," said UAB head coach Mike Getman. "Coming off a tough overtime loss to Florida Atlantic, confidence-wise the guys needed tonight. Against FAU, we gave up a goal on a set piece and tonight we score a goal on a set piece. That's the difference in a lot of soccer games. The guys played as well as they did the other day but today the difference is we got the goal."
Tyler, who was wearing number 28 tonight instead of his usual number 20, scored in the 30th minute. A free kick from just inside the midfield line by Massimo Ferrin found Mathieu Laurent in the box. Laurent used his head to work the ball over to Tyler where the young striker booted in his second career goal to make it 1-0.
The Blazers nearly scored immediately to open the second half. A long ball by UAB went over the heads of everybody but was misplayed by the goalkeeper and wound up with Andrew Nkpolukwu. The freshman forward was unable to keep his balance and lost control of the ball with defenders bearing down on him.
UAB played suffocating defense throughout the game. Santa Clara put only a single shot on frame over the 90 minutes. This was the fifth shutout of the year for the Blazers and senior Joe Kuzminsky. The veteran goalkeeper is now just two shutouts and two wins away from joining the top five in school history.
This was just the second meeting all-time between the two programs. The last game in the Elite Eight in 1999 that saw Santa Clara win 3-2 in overtime.
The Broncos entered the game ranked tenth by the NSCAA in the Far West region while the Blazers were ranked eighth in the Southeast region. UAB gets another stern test on Saturday night as No. 15 Kentucky visits Birmingham. The Wildcats are the defending Conference USA champion and currently stand at 6-2-2 on the year.
"It's going to be a huge game," said Getman. "They are ranked ninth in the NCAA RPI rankings right now. We know they are a good team, but I think we feel pretty good about how we're playing."
