Memphis men's soccer won their second game in a row on Saturday night at Park Avenue Campus in a 3-2 classic against Tulsa to improve to 3-4-3 on the season and 2-1 in American Conference play.
After an uneventful first half where both teams were figuring each other out, the Tigers and Golden Hurricanes exploded for a combined five goals in a 24-minute window in the second half, including three goals from the Tigers from the 61st minute to the 77th minute.
“We just cleaned up our own touches, and that was really it. Guys came out, we were on top of it, same intensity, and we just cleaned up the final product,” said Eben McIntyre, who scored the game winner in the 77th minute, about the difference in the two halves for the Tigers.
McIntyre’s game winning goal was a “direct” play, where goalkeeper Philip Sabatti cleared the ball long to Lucho Galizzi, who headed the ball to a streaking McIntyre for the deciding goal.
“(Galizzi) did all the hard work, he put the ball in the perfect spot and all I had to do was tap it home,” said McIntyre.
“We’re making tough, good decisions. If you saw two of the three goals were just clearances out the back, whereas earlier in the year, we’re maybe trying to play out of the back, we’re trying to do something pretty. Pretty doesn’t win games,” head coach Richard Mulrooney said.
Tulsa opened up the scoring with a beautiful cross capped off by a Will Applegate header in the 53rd minute, Memphis responded with a Miller Lashlee header in the 61st and a rocket from Samuel Mutiri outside the box just two minutes later in the 63rd minute. Tulsa then scored three minutes after Memphis took the 2-1 lead off a corner kick that landed right at Bowen McCloud’s feet to knot the game up at 2-2 in the 66th minute. Memphis responded yet again and took the lead for good off McIntyre’s goal.
“For us to come back from 1-0, and then sometimes when you’re up 2-1, to give up that second goal, that’s a kick in the stomach. So to find the third, we’re persevering. At the end of the day, I think we’re working hard for 90 minutes,” said Mulrooney. “That was probably the most complete performance we’ve had.”
After starting the season 1-4-3 and going on a five game winless streak, Memphis has won two games in a row, both by the same score of 3-2, and have positioned themselves well in the American Conference.
Next comes a road match at Charlotte at 6 p.m. CT on Friday.
“We’re focusing on ourselves and we’re now going to play the toughest game of the season at Charlotte, who’s always been a tough opponent for us, but we’re going to be ready for them,” said Mulrooney
