Sept. 6, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team suffered its first defeat of the 2007 campaign Thursday as the Bulldogs' second-half rally fell short against the Miami Hurricanes 2-1 on the opening day of the 2007 Long's Electronics Samford Classic.

Samford's Lauren Cook scored her team-leading fourth goal of the season during the 59th minute of play.

"Even though we lost tonight, I was extremely proud of how our players competed in the second half," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "They showed a lot of fight and courage and it was huge to be able to come back and score a great goal. Down the stretch, we had multiple chances to tie it up, but things just didn't bounce our way."

With the loss, Samford (2-1) dropped its first regular-season home match since Oct. 9, 2005 when the Bulldogs were tripped up by Murray State 1-0. Since then, Samford had reeled off eight-straight victories in home regular-season contests.

The Bulldogs will continue play in the 2007 Long's Electronics Samford Classic on Saturday against the Memphis Tigers. In Thursday's opening contest of the four-team event, Memphis was outscored by LSU 7-2.

Miami (2-0-1) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with first-half goals from Brittney Steinbruch and Sammy Sanderson.

Steinbruch, the Hurricanes' highly-coveted freshman midfielder from Wyckoff, N.J., scored the first goal of the match during the 16th minute of play. Miami's leading scorer gathered the ball deep in Samford territory following a corner kick, she then turned and fired a shot into the back of the net.

The unassisted goal was Steinbruch's team-high fifth of the season and the Hurricanes' 10th of the 2007 campaign.

Less than 16 minutes later, Miami increased its lead to 2-0 with Sanderson's first goal of the season. At 31:44 in the first half, the Hurricanes' Beverly Goebel sent a perfectly-placed centering pass into the box and Sanderson tapped it into the left corner of the net.

"I thought that in the first half we played like a young, inexperienced team," said Yelton. "Miami is a great side and they have a number of dynamic players. I think that Brittney Steinbruch and Sheuneen Ta are special for them and you can't make mistakes like we did in the back."

Samford was outshot 8-2 in the first half, but came out in the second period with a different mindset and scored a momentum-changing goal during the 59th minute of play.

Cook, the Bulldogs' freshman forward from Conyers, Ga., trimmed Miami's lead to 2-1 at 58:20. On the play, Samford's Amber Cress sent a deep centering pass towards the top of the box that the Hurricanes' goalkeeper Lauren McAdam attempted to punch away.

McAdam misplayed the ball and allowed Cook to pounce on it before sending a looping shot into the net. The goal was Cook's fourth of the season.

"When you're down 2-0 and you score a goal it gives you hope," Yelton said. "I think that what really hurt us in the first half was that we didn't really have a strong belief that we were ready to compete on the same stage as a Miami. In the second half, we came out and played solid and when we scored the goal, we knew we were right back in it."

Following Samford's second-half score, the Bulldogs took control of the match and tallied several shots on goal.

During the final minute of play, Samford earned a corner kick and nearly scored the game-tying goal when Rebecca Bohler sent a hooking pass into a scrum of players. McAdam came out of net to grab the ball but it bounced dangerously in the box before a Miami defender was able to clear it to midfield.

In the second half of play, Miami still outshot the Bulldogs, but the margin was trimmed to 11-6.

The Samford University soccer team will continue play in the 2007 Long's Electronics Samford Classic on Saturday as the Bulldogs square off against the Memphis Tigers at 7:30 p.m.