Nov. 1, 2008

2008 Conference USA Tournament Bracket 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB women's soccer team has earned the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Conference USA Women's Soccer Tournament, held Nov. 5-9 in Houston, Texas. The Blazers will play No. 2 Memphis in the first round on Wednesday, with kickoff slated for 5:30 p.m. CT.

"We approach the tournament as a brand new season and everyone starts on an even playing field," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "It's a short, three-game season.

"With our conference, it doesn't really matter where you are seeded. Every game is going to be tough. I don't think there is a big advantage to being seeded in a particular spot, it's just a matter of making it into the tournament and taking care of business from there."

UAB concluded the season with an overall record of 7-10-2, including a 5-4-2 mark in league games, to receive the No. 7 seed. The Blazers finished their last seven games with a 4-1-2 record to clinch their spot in the tournament.

No. 2 Memphis, which owns a share of the 2008 C-USA regular-season title and is the defending league tournament champion, has an overall record of 12-4-2 and an 8-2-1 mark in conference games entering the tournament.

UAB and Memphis played each other this past Thursday in both teams' regular-season finale. The Tigers earned a 2-1 win over the Blazers in that match. UAB holds the advantage in the all-time series with Memphis, 8-6-1.

East Carolina (12-3-4, 7-0-4 C-USA) earned the No. 1 seed and shared the regular-season championship with Memphis. The Pirates won the tiebreaker to receive the top seed in the tournament.

The Blazers will be searching for their third C-USA Tournament title, having previously won in 2004 and 2006. UAB was the No. 7 seed when it took home its last tournament championship in 2006.

"We're excited to start playing and try to win another tournament championship," said Harbin. "We are going to take it one game at a time and hopefully achieve our goals."