Freshman forward Massimo Ferrin prepares to take a shot on goal. Photo by Ian KeelTrinity Dix- Contributortri915@uab.edu
The UAB men’s soccer team lost to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 1-0 on Friday, Sept. 9, falling to a 1-2-2 record.
With 10 seconds remaining in the game, the Blazers were close to the goal, but not close enough to score and tie up the game.
“I was disappointed with the result,” said head coach Mike Getman. “I thought our team played very hard during the game [...] Oftentimes, it’s one play on either side that makes a difference.”
According to Getman and Joe Kuzminsky, the goalkeeper and team captain, the Blazers played strong during the first half of the game, yet they missed multiple chances to score a goal.
“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a couple of goals in the first half and really put the game away early,” said Kuzminsky. “But I think overall we’re doing real well this season, and it’ll get better from here.”
When asked which areas the team needed to improve on, Getman and Kuzminsky disagreed, with Getman saying focus and Kuzminsky saying offense. However, they both agreed on one thing: “to get the ball in the back of the net.”
“I think it’s really a matter of just being focused for the full 90 minutes and keeping our energy up for the full 90 minutes,” Getman said. “Overall, it was a good performance. This is our second loss, so obviously not every game has gone the way we wanted.”
“I think defensively this year, we’ve been pretty solid,” Kuzminsky said. “The only thing I can change for that is to make sure that we clear the ball out and not give second chances to other teams, and offensively, we just need to take our chances.”
During the first half of the game, Kuzminsky – who in 2014 was ranked second in Conference USA, caught the ball more than four times during the game, and in the second half, he caught two more with the exception of that one shot that resulted in UAB’s loss.
No. 10 left midfielder, Henrique Sposito fooled the Tulsa player by moving the ball as the player slid, attempted and failed to kick the ball away from the UAB team’s grasp. Later in the first half, No. 14 left midfielder David Valverde had to be let out of the game due to an injury gained during the play, thus No. 22 Chase Rushing substituted. In the second-half, No. 15 Mathieu Laurent blocked a shot aiming for the goal and knocked it out of bounds.
Friday was the second game of the 19th “Soccer for a Cure” Classic, a tournament hosted annually by UAB in an effort to raise money to support people currently fighting cancer.
The Blazers will take face conference foe Marshall Thundering Herd on Friday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at BBVA Compass Field.
