ATTIESBURG, Miss. - No. 9 Memphis (16-0-1, 8-0-1 C-USA) clinched at least a share of the Conference USA Regular Season Championship with a 3-0 victory at Southern Miss (3-12-3, 0-8-1 C-USA) on Friday afternoon.

"I thought we played well today and we were able to play everybody," head coach Brooks Monaghan said. "It was a good team effort today considering the style Southern Miss plays. We didn't force things too much and kept possession and got the result we wanted."

 

With the victory, Memphis secures the No. 1 seed in the C-USA Tournament at Mike Rose Soccer Complex beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 2. A win on Sunday at UCF means Memphis clinches the crown outright.

Senior forward Melissa Smith scored her fourth goal of the season in the eighth minute to put Memphis on top 1-0. Sophomore forward Rasheeda Ansari served the ball through the box, where Smith awaited and punched the ball past the Southern Miss keeper to the bottom right portion of the net for the goal. It was Ansari's first assist of the season and Smith's goal marked the earliest score this season at 8:31.

"We challenged the girls to score early today and that was massive," Monaghan said. "I think the early goal set the tempo for us and we fed off of that for the remainder of the game."

Sophomore forward Christabel Oduro added a team-leading ninth goal of the season just eight minutes later to set the score at 2-0. Smith fed the ball to Oduro on the right side and Oduro made a quick move past the keeper for the goal. It was Smith's fifth assist of the season and marked the first match Smith posted three or more points since Sept. 20, 2009 against Evansville.

The U of M peppered the Golden Eagles with 14 shots in the first half and had seven corner kicks in the frame. Southern Miss did not register a shot in the first half, but Golden Eagle goalkeeper Hannah Vanderboegh had three saves in the first stanza. Freshman midfielder Kelley Gravlinextended the Memphis lead to 3-0 with a goal in the 54th minute. Gravlin gathered the ball in the middle of the pitch and rocketed a shot from 20 yards away for the goal, her fourth of the season. With the score by Gravlin, Memphis has six players with four or more goals on the season.

Memphis continued the pressure as the squad finished with 27 shots, 14 on goal. Vanderboegh finished with 10 saves, while Memphis netminder Elise Kuhar-Pitters did not face a shot on goal as the Memphis defense limited the Golden Eagles to one total shot in the match. Kuhar-Pitters recorded her 11th clean sheet of the season, tying her own single-season school record. Memphis needs one clean sheet to tie the single-season team shutout record.

The Lady Tigers improve to 9-0-0 on the road this season, a single-season record for victories on the road and also the longest winning streak on the road in program history. Memphis improved to 19-3-3 in league road games since 2007 and are 33-6-3 overall in that span. The U of M has scored two or more goals in six-straight games for the fourth time in program history and second different occasion this season. Memphis bettered its record to 63-3-2 when scoring three or more goals. The Lady Tigers also improved to 37-7-6 in October matches since the 2006 season, posting their 33rd shutout in that span.

"It's big to have clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament, but in this conference, all teams the teams that qualify for the tournament are going to be quality opponents," Monaghan said. It was our goal to finish first in the conference, but the season is not complete. We have to continue to take one game at a time and see where it takes us. We have to turn our focus to Sunday's game and be ready for a tough UCF squad."

Memphis travels to Orlando, Fla., for a clash with the 2010 C-USA regular season champion UCF. Kickoff is slated for noon on Sunday at the UCF Soccer and Track Complex.