TULSA, Okla. ? Jase Griffiths scored twice and added an assist while goalkeeper Matt Troop made seven saves to lift 13th-ranked Kentucky to a 3-0 victory over Tulsa on Friday night in the Conference USA Tournament semifinal.
The win was the Wildcats fifth in a row and advances them to the championship match of the C-USA Tournament on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET against second-ranked SMU. The game will be televised live on CSTV. Kentucky improved to 14-4-2 overall this year, tying for the second most wins in school history.
Despite the final score, the game was a hard-fought battle between two teams laying it on the line. Tulsa held the shot advantage, 11-9, but couldn?t beat Troop who made seven saves, a number them spectacular, to earn his second clean sheet.
The save of the game came in the 40th minute on a brilliant strike by Diego Henriquez from the right side. He ripped his shot at a sharp angle from just outside the 18. It was destined for the far upper 90, but Troop, standing at the near post, backed up, leapt and got just enough of it to send it over the bar for a corner kick.
There were at least three more times Troop left his feet to keep Tulsa from finding the net. One instance in the 75th minute started a minor melee in front of the UK goal. A Golden Hurricane attacker collided with him on the goal line, sending him back into the net and onto the ground.
Nathan Li and Eric Defreitas battled in front of the net on the play and each earned cards. After the play was dead, two players got into it, defending their teammates, and before long all 22 players were in a scrum inside the UK six.
The scene displayed the high intensity of the match shown by both teams.
Griffiths got UK on the board early with a goal in the 11th minute. Riley O’Neill started the play with a run through the middle of the attacking third to the right side of the 18 before serving from near the end line. It was deflected and bounced out to D’Agostino at the edge of the 18, where he bounced a shot attempt down. But it went straight Griffiths at the six. He trapped it, held the defender on his back and fired past goalkeeper Tyrel Lacey inside the left post.
With the assist, D?Agostino moved into fourth place in school history with 14 in his career. After scoring twice early in the year, the goal was Griffiths first in nine games. He got back into the act twice in the second half, assisting on Matt Baum?s goal before putting the game away in the 85th minute.
On his second score, O?Neill crossed from the left side and Griffiths took the pass at the top of the box. He dribbled once to his right before ripping a shot low that beat Lacey.
Just 18 minute before that Baum had made it 2-0 on his second goal against Tulsa in as many weeks. Griffiths passed to Strong just outside the 18 and he did well to play the ball into space in the right half of the box. From there, a streaking Baum cracked a shot that found the back of the net. The score served as redemption for him after having a breakaway effort foiled by the woodwork on Wednesday night.
