On a day when the Cougars were without two of their best players, the UH soccer team fought through to get a 1-0 victory over Memphis and earn the team's first Conference USA victory and first win in its last nine matches. Houston (3-10-1 overall, 1-5 in C-USA) lost 3-2 to Texas Christian on Friday.
“You have to credit all 22 players, whether they stepped on the field or not,” head coach Bill Solberg said. “Everybody stood up the whole game — we had all 22 cheering their teammates on. We put “family” on our (T-shirts); today it felt like family, and we got the result we've been looking for.
Senior defender Emily Allwardt and sophomore forward Meghan Moreo were suspended for Sunday's game: Allwardt for accumulating too many foul points and Moreo for an ejection she received in Friday's match.
Junior midfielder Nikki Hawkins and senior midfielder Nicole Aubuchon rallied their team and worked together on the game's lone goal. After freshman forward Kourtney Ray was fouled just outside the Memphis penalty box in the 48th minute, Aubuchon tapped the resulting free kick to Hawkins, who bent the ball into the upper right corner.
“I just knew she wasn't a very strong keeper,” Hawkins said. “We knew that we needed to hit it on target. I just saw (the goal) wide open and I played it.”
Hawkins leads the team with 12 points and five goals. The junior from Plano also has two game-winning goals to lead the team.
After the goal, UH spent most of the remaining time playing tough defense and trying to run out the clock. Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Webster, playing with a broken left hand suffered Oct. 3 against Rice, had 12 saves to keep the shutout intact.
“I thought we slowed down, we strayed from the game plan there at the end,” Solberg said. “We were trying to play it out, and we weren't as composed as I would have liked us to be. But we got the job done, and that's something we take away to work on.”
Houston scored early against the Horned Frogs on Friday. Junior midfielder Anne Gasser, playing outside midfield for the first time this season, took a Aubuchon pass and fired it through the hands of TCU goalkeeper Katie Buchanan in the third minute.
UH held that lead until the 56th minute, when TCU's Jessi Moore scored the first of her two goals. Moore scored again exactly two minutes later off a Karissa Hill assist.
Sophomore midfielder Beth Outlaw slammed a left-footed shot from about 30 yards out that deflected off the crossbar and went into the goal in the 86th minute, tying the game and apparently sending it into overtime. TCU's Amy Van Zandt had other ideas, scoring with just 51 seconds remaining in the match to ensure a Horned Frogs victory.
The Cougars go on the road to face Alabama-Birmingham on Friday and South Florida on Sunday.
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