Friday Soccer Roundup

Tulsa 3 New Mexico 0

Tulsa's fifth-seeded men's soccer team captured a 3-0 win over top-seeded and 19th-ranked New Mexico on Friday evening in the Conference USA Championship Semifinals at Transamerica Field in Charlotte, N.C. TU moved to 11-5-3 on the season, while New Mexico fell to 11-5-2 overall.

Tulsa will take on either sixth-seeded Charlotte or seventh-seeded Kentucky in the C-USA Championship on Sunday, Nov. 17th beginning at 12:30 pm Central in Charlotte, N.C. The game will be televised live on CBS Sports.

"I thought we started the game really well," Head Coach Tom McIntosh said. "We came out and took control of the match early on. The strikers were moving the ball well, and honestly we should have scored two or three more goals in the first half, but we were happy to be up 2-0 at the half. In the second half, New Mexico was obviously pushing the ball more and the game opened up, but we held on defensively. Tony [Rocha] defended very well and Jake [McGuire] came up with some big saves. Jake continues to grow. He has a lot of ability, but he needs to command his area better and I think he did a good job of that today."

Quinton Duncan put the Golden Hurricane on the board at the 22:56 mark as he punched in a rebound attempt that was taken by Akeil Barrett. Tony Rocha found the back of the net just two minutes later off an assist from Cristian Mata to give TU a two-goal cushion at the break.

Omar Mata drilled in a penalty kick taken at the 49:39 mark for the final score of the contest.

Cristian had a team-best six shots, three of which were on goal, while Barrett added three attempts. Jake McGuire logged all 90 minutes between the posts, picked up seven saves and earned his third shutout on the season.

The Lobos had a 17-14 lead in shots, but the Golden Hurricane had a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal, and both teams attempted four corner kicks.

In the nine-year history of the C-USA Men's Soccer Championship, Tulsa has tallied a 15-3-2 overall record in the tournament. The Golden Hurricane won the tournament in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012, and also played in the title game in 2005 and 2010.

Western Illinois 3 Oral Roberts 1

The Oral Roberts University men's soccer season came to a close on Friday afternoon in the Summit League Championship semifinals as the Golden Eagles fell to Western Illinois, 3-1.

ORU finished the season with a 6-8-4 overall mark after qualifying for the championship tournament as the regular season runner-up. Fourth-seed Western Illinois (6-12) advanced to the championship match on Sunday and will take on regular season champion Denver, who blanked IUPUI in the tournament opener, 5-0.

In the first meeting between the Golden Eagles and Leathernecks, ORU scored a pair of goals in the first ten minutes of action. The early goal trend against Leathernecks continued on Friday as Alex White placed the ball into the right corner of the net to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.

Gerardo Salas was credited with the assist as he sent the ball in from the far left corner.

Western Illinois knotted the match at a goal apiece in the 29th minute as Jacob Bevan got a head on the ball, following his own shot that was knocked down by a Golden Eagle defender.

It didn't take long in the second half for the Leathernecks to break the game open as Oscar Ortega scored two goals within the first five minutes.

Only 57 seconds into the second stanza, Ortega was on the receiving end of a through ball, blasting it into the upper-left portion of the net to give WIU a 2-1 lead. Husref Jupic and Drew Whalen picked up the helpers on Ortega's go-ahead goal.

Whalen again picked up an assist on the third goal of the match in the 50th minute as Ortega got a head on the ball to extend the Leatherneck lead to 3-1.

The match was nearly even in the shot category with the Leathernecks holding a one shot advantage, 19-18. Johnny Chavez led the Golden Eagles with two shots on target in the first half, while Jupic, Ortega and Erick Bloom each had a pair of shots on goal for WIU.

Isaac Sandoval earned the loss between the posts for ORU with four saves.