Memphis women’s soccer took the field at home Sunday night for the first top 25 game in the Bluff City since 2018, pulling out a gritty 1-0 victory against No. 11 Vanderbilt.
The Tigers were able to come out on top in a defensive game, despite the fact that both teams came into this game leading the country in goal differential. Despite having one of the youngest teams in program history, Memphis has looked extremely impressive en route to a 4-0-0 record.
“I was just pleased with the way the kids battled tonight,” Memphis coach Brooks Monaghan said. “We took a risk with the system we played. We changed it and really went kind of man-to-man and made the decision, ‘Let’s test this young team.’ I was really proud of them.”
The first half is where both teams established that this game was going to be a defensive war of attrition. The two teams combined for less than 10 shots in the first period, but a lot of those shots were great looks, especially for Vanderbilt. In the 21st minute, Tigers defender Finley Lavin took a ball that was tipped by Memphis’ keeper, Abby Kudla, and cleared it right on the goal line to keep the Commodores off of the scoreboard.
The second half had more of the same with neither team being able to break through the other’s elite defense. That was until the 55th minute, when Ai Kitagawa sent a corner kick into the Commodores’ penalty area, causing just enough chaos for Elise Perron to find the back of the net to score the only goal of this match.
After Vanderbilt conceded the goal, they started to generate their own chances to tie things up, but Kudla racked up five saves and was able to keep the 11th best team in the country from scoring to secure the massive home victory.
A big part of the reason why Memphis came away with the result was because of the respect Coach Monaghan has for Vanderbilt’s team. He prepared the team to play in a more defense-oriented style.
“Look, they’re very good. We wanted to nullify some things, that’s why we changed our system," Monaghan said about Vanderbilt. "We knew we’d get a chance. When we went into this game, we didn’t think either team was going to get many chances, to be honest.”
The Tigers will be back in action against another SEC opponent in the Missouri Tigers at 7:30 p.m. CT on Park Ave. Campus, which will be the second game of a doubleheader with the men’s soccer team. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
