Good teams capitalize on mistakes, and it's the main reason the UTEP Lady Miners are 12-0-1.
The University of Memphis women's soccer team had their chances, but unlike UTEP, they couldn't finish their opportunities as their record fell to 7-4-0 overall and 1-1-0 in Conference USA play.
"I think overall the team effort was good, but we made a few mistakes," said head coach Brooks Monaghan.
U of M defenders had a tough time keeping up with UTEP forwards at key points in the game and UTEP made the most of the Lady Tigers' miscues.
"One of the things we told them is they have to make sure they stay close to their men and keep the forwards' backs to the goals,' Monaghan said. "Three times we lost our marks and they scored three goals. I thought (UTEP) had four good chances all game, and Isabel Briones came up with a huge save, but they scored three on mistakes we made."
The first goal came off the foot of UTEP's Brandi Aston in the 11th minute with an assist from Kia Sams.
Sams received praise from her coach Kevin Cross all game, as she broke up passes and put teammates in great positions to score. She had two assists.
The Tigers answered the goal five minutes later with a goal of its own by Asuka Kubota with an assist from Nicky McLeod.
The goal by Memphis was a tremendous momentum swing for the Lady Tigers as they controlled the ball and kept it on UTEP's side of the field for almost all of the final 25 minutes of the first half.
Although Memphis had quality scoring chances during that time, they couldn't put one in the net.
"We could have come out a little sharper than we did," junior McLeod said. "We started off a little bit slow, which caused the first goal."
Melissa Savage seemed to be the emotional leader on the field, as she was involved in a few hard fouls.
Savage, a Texas native, knew one of the Lady Miners and came out with a little something extra.
When asked about her play she responded, "I probably should say 'No, I'm a nice girl,' but yeah I play aggressively, you have to. Playing (center midfielder) you have to help everybody out, and people look up to me because I'm a junior."
Seventeen minutes into the second half UTEP scored two goals within six minutes of each other to distance themselves from a dangerous U of M squad that has scored 32 goals on the season.
The first of the two scored by Jami Tullius was a lob over Memphis goalie Briones off a cross from Sams. The second was scored by Cara Nordin and was unassisted.
Memphis brought it to a 3-2 score when junior forward Shoko Mikami rocketed the ball to the left of Popoff in the 67th minute.
Mikami's goal keeps the streak of at least one goal scored by either Mikami or Kylie Hayes this season.
From there Memphis had a few late rallies, one of which was stopped by a spectacular leg save by UTEP goalie Brittany Popoff with a little less than three minutes remaining. However, Memphis could never tie it.
