The seventh seeded Miners’ soccer team pulled off the shocking upset against the second seed Rice Owls, who were the hottest team in Conference USA coming into the tournament. Now, UTEP will look to keep their playoff magic alive against the Charlotte 49ers on Friday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m. in Charlotte, N.C.
UTEP shutout the Owls who were riding on a seven game winning streak. The Miners were the clear underdogs against a tough Rice team due to their lackluster performance in the regular season when both teams matched up—Rice shutout UTEP 3-0 on their home field.
UTEP’s revenge tour went according to plan come tournament time. When the game on November 2 had wrapped up, it was the Owls who left with their heads down. The Miners came out victorious with the narrow margin, 1-0.
The Miners will get their right to keep proving themselves when they go head-to-head against the home town team, Charlotte.
On the other hand, the sixth ranked 49ers are coming off a thriller of their own. They overcame the three seed in the conference, Western Kentucky, who finished 7-3 in conference play this season. WKU and Charlotte were in a dog fight all night, and after ninety minutes of play, the scoreboard was tied at 1 a piece.
However, when penalty kicks were the deciding factor in the Conference USA quarters, the 49ers outgunned Western Kentucky 4-1 and slipped by with their dreams of a conference title still in reach.
Earlier in the season, on Sept. 30, El Paso went to Charlotte, North Carolina to compete in a Conference USA battle.
In the first half of the matchup, the Miners lead on the scoreboard 1-0, due to Jeanna Mullen’s first goal of her season.
When the second period came around, Aleah Davis extended UTEP’s lead 2-0, but that was not enough for the Miners to claim themselves safe yet. The 49ers came out looking to make things interesting after being down by two.
All three of the 49ers goals came in the last 45 minutes of play. The Miners got outshot 19-8, but somehow never surrendered the lead in Charlotte. When the game was tied at three-goals, junior Kennadie Chaudhary for UTEP stepped up and hit the last shot of the game with nineteen seconds left to defeat the 49ers.
At the end of the day, the Miners handed the 49ers their first loss at home, with the 4-3 win.
Circumstances will be bigger when the two teams meet again knowing that it is win or go home. The 49ers have the Conference USA offensive player of the year Martha Thomas, and she will need to be stopped if the Miners’ joy ride hopes to be continued. She torched UTEP’s defense up for two goals in their first game and has ten scores in her junior year.
Game time between the UTEP Mines and Charlotte 49ers will start at 5 pm on November 4th, in Charlotte. This game will determine who will be playing for the C-USA title game on November 6th. The winner will face the victor from North Texas and Florida Atlantic.
