Nov. 2, 2007

Box Score

Lauren Hamson notched a hat trick and Jami Tullius scored twice to lead the UTEP soccer team to a 6-0 rout at Houston Friday evening.

UTEP, which is unbeaten in its past three contests, improves to 11-6-2, 5-2-1 C-USA play, while the Cougars fall 4-11-2, 0-7-1, respectively.

The Miners dominated the match, out-shooting UH 24-10 and taking 10 corner kicks compared to just one for the Cougars.

Jordan Freiberg picked up her first-career goal while Cortney Casey, Ashley Cole, Melissa Desilets, Angie Kleinfelder and Tullius all added assists.

Senior goalkeeper Brittany Popoff made three saves to register her second shutout in 2007 and 17th of her illustrious career. She is just one shy of equaling the program record for blankings.

The offensive explosion marks the most goals scored in a league game since 2003 and equals the 10th-highest total in program annals. Additionally, it matches the third-most goals tallied in a road tilt in school history.

The Miners jumped all over the Cougars early on, racing out to a 2-0 lead 15 minutes into the match. Hamson got things going nine minutes in, ringing up her first of the three goals on the night. Tullius sent a pass to the freshman, who drew the keeper out with a tantalizing dribbling move before firing in on the empty net.

Less than two minutes later, Tullius nearly made it a 2-0 contest but her rocket beam clanked off the cross bar.

The Orange and Blue remained aggressive, despite the bit of misfortune, garnering their fourth corner kick of the match at the 15-minute mark. Casey lobbed a ball into the box, where Freiberg rose above the rest and hammered home the header.

As the half wore on, UTEP continued to dominate possession and play. Although the Miners did not score, they played primarily in UH's portion of the pitch. UTEP took four more corner kicks, while recording five shots. Included among those was a blast by Tullius which bounced off the post.

Houston managed its first shot on goal with 18 seconds to play in the period, but Popoff was there to make the save.

In the second stanza, UTEP remained in complete control. After some shots which were off target, Hamson made it a 3-0 contest at the 66-minute mark. Deslilets threaded the needle with a splendid pass to her fellow classmate, who buried it into the bottom, left corner of the net.

The Miners were just getting started, though, with Tullius breaking thru her unlucky breaks from earlier in the match by scoring twice in a span of 57 seconds. First, it was a header tally for the senior after Kleinfelder played a beautiful ball to her. That strike was followed by a goal scorer's goal in a breakaway down the right-hand side of the pitch.

Hamson capped off the career night by drilling a shot past a helpless UH netminder. Cole registered her first-career assist on the play.

The goal was the fourth in a stretch of a little more than 20 minutes mid-way thru the second half for the Miners.

UTEP will play its regular-season finale at Rice at 12 p.m. on Sunday. It is a crucial match, as the Owls and Miners are tied for third in C-USA play with 16 points.