Tulsa
7-8-4, 3-5-2
Memphis
11-1-4, 6-0-4
Tulsa Women Clinch No. 8 Seed in AAC Championship with 1-1 Draw at No. 19 Memphis.
10/31/2024 10:18:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In a road test against the toughest team to score against in the American Athletic Conference, Tulsa benefitted from a heroic goal by true freshman forward Blaine Schutte from redshirt junior forward Hannah Chance in the 84th minute helped Tulsa finish a 1-1 draw at No. 19 Memphis Thursday night, securing the final spot in the eight-team conference tournament.
The eight-seed Golden Hurricane will rematch Memphis, the tournament's No. 1 seed, at 6:30 Central in the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood, Fla., on Monday, Nov. 4. The game will stream on ESPN+.
Tulsa came into the game needing to either win or tie to get into the championship. A loss would have still gotten the Hurricane in had the UTSA-Florida Atlantic game ended in a draw. Schutte's goal in the 84th minute came at almost the exact moment when UTSA took a 2-1 lead over the Owls. Had Schutte not made her goal or if a 63rd-minute Memphis goal hadn't been wiped away by an offside call, the Hurricane's season would've ended Thursday.
Schutte scored her ninth goal of the year, a team-leading mark and now tied for first in The American with Rice's Leah Chancey. Chance earned her fifth assist this season on the game tier.
Tulsa went up against an incredibly tough squad from Memphis as the Hurricane withstood 32 total shots and nine shots on goal while only recording six attempts and just two shots on goal, including the equalizer by Schutte. Memphis also had eight corner kicks and held TU to one.
How it Happened
Memphis started attacking early with four off-target shots in the first nine minutes, three of which were taken outside the box by the Tigers' Ashley Henderson.
By the 20-minute mark, Memphis already had 10 shots under their belt, none of which were close to scoring. Although Tulsa was able to take it down the field a few times, Memphis was spending most of the time with the ball in Tulsa's territory. Tulsa's first shot came in the 25th minute on an off-target attempt by F Leah Diaz.
F Jordan Frederick broke away with the ball in the 32nd minute and took a left-footed shot on goal from about 15 yards out that was saved by the goalkeeper, Kaylie Bierman.
On a counterattack in the 44th minute, Memphis took a smart shot from within the box that was saved in the lower left corner by GK Tatum Sanders. Memphis had another opportunity to score with the ensuing corner kick but failed to capitalize as the scoreboard reached zeros in the first half.
At the break, Memphis had a whopping 18 shots, including four shots on goal, while Tulsa had three shots with only one on goal. The Tigers led the corner kick battle 3-1.
It was a fairly clean box score at halftime as there had only been three fouls, two by Tulsa and one committed by Memphis.
The second half was more of the same as Memphis dominated the shot-battle down the stretch.
In the 63rd minute, Memphis drove down the field and took a shot within the goalkeeper area that actually went into the net, but the attacker, Elise Parron, was called offside by no more than a few feet.
Memphis' 29th shot of the game finally broke through the TU defense as Ai Kitagawa sent the ball on an arc into the lower left corner of the Hurricane net.
The 1-0 advantage for the Tigers didn't last long as true freshman F Blaine Schutte snapped Tulsa's three-game scoreless streak with a left-footed goal in the 84th minute. She took what would be Tulsa's second shot on goal from just inside the center left of the penalty area and received the ball on a smart pass from F Hannah Chance, sending it in the lower right corner of the Memphis net. Although F Aniya Facen was initially credited with the assist in the official box score, it was Chance who set up the goal for Tulsa.
From there, Tulsa just needed to play keep-away ball and did just that, allowing the game to finish 1-1 to secure the final spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship. By the final buzzer, Memphis has a whopping 32 shots to Tulsa's six
Game Notes
- Tulsa has now qualified for back-to-back American Athletic Conference Championships in 2023 and 2024 after having not participated in any since 2015.
- Tulsa's all-time record against ranked opponents moved to 1-25-4 with the tie at No. 19 Memphis.
- The series with the Tigers moved to 14-2-4 still in favor of Memphis.
- F Blaine Schutte heroically scored the 84th-equalizer goal … it's the true freshman's ninth of the season.
- GK Tatum Sanders got the starting nod and saved the ball seven times … she moved to 5-7-4 on the year.
- The Tulsa defense withstood 32 total shots and nine shots on goal, giving up only one score. The Hurricane offense had just six shots and two on goal, including Schutte's game-tying score.
- Only six total fouls were committed in the game, including four on Memphis and two on Tulsa.
- Memphis had eight corner kicks to Tulsa's one.
Scoring Summary
Tulsa 0 1 - 1
Memphis 0 1 - 1
Individual Scoring
Ai Kitagawa (Memphis) at 71:32 (Unassisted)
Blaine Schutte (Tulsa) at 83:38 (Hannah Chance)
Saves
Tatum Sanders (Tulsa) – 7
Tulsa (Team) – 1
Kaylie Bierman (South Florida) – 1
Team Stats
Ai Kitagawa (6)
GOAL by MEM Kitagawa, Ai.
71:32
Blaine Schutte (9)
Assisted By: Hannah Chance
GOAL by TUL Schutte, Blaine Assist by Chance, Hannah.
83:38
