BOX SCORES
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s soccer season came to an end in the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship Game on Saturday at “The Cage.” Top-seeded North Texas won its second-straight conference championship with a 2-0 victory over the Jaguars. USA finishes the season with a 12-5-1 mark and North Texas improves to 16-3-2.
The game opened as both teams looked shaky from the start. Midway through the first half the teams settled down and began to make some plays. The Jaguars had a couple of opportunities midway through the half, but a couple of offside calls negated the scoring chances. Senior Tanya Allegretti beat Mean Green goalkeeper Kandice Ellis and put the ball in the net, but she was offside.
North Texas’ Heather Hutyra showed why she was the Player of the Year in the conference as she found the back of the net for the game winner at the 42:39 mark in the first half. It was her third goal of the tournament.
The half ended with the score 1-0. UNT out-shot the Jaguars 7-2 in the opening half.
UNT’s Julie Radford iced the game for the Mean Green when she knocked in a goal in the 76th minute.
After the game, USA was presented with the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Runner-Up Trophy and had three players named to the 2005 Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament Team. Senior Rebecca Kahn, freshman goalkeeper Kelsie Langford and sophomore Kelly Tarrant all made the team. Hutyra was named Most Outstanding Player.
The three players named to the all-tournament team was the largest number in school history. USA had two players named to the team in 2000 and 2002. Kahn was named to the team in 2002. The rest of the team includes, Alicia Dalby from Western Kentucky, Jenna Silverburg from Western Kentucky, Rebecca Rodriguez from Middle Tennessee, Claire Ward from Middle Tennessee, Kandice Ellis from North Texas, Hutyra from North Texas, Radford from North Texas and Dani Slavonic from North Texas.
For the season, USA set or tied a number of school records. The Jaguars tied the school record for wins at home with nine. Langford set the school record for goals against average with a 0.92 average. The previous best was 0.99 set last year by Amber Angermeirer. USA also set the school record for the fewest goals allowed in a season with 17. USA allowed 19 last year, which was the previous school best.
