No. 11 Memphis women's soccer played in a crucial game against one of the best teams in the American in the USF Bulls, picking up a 3-0 victory with a phenomenal second half performance Thursday night at the Park Avenue Campus.
This win puts the Tigers into a three-way tie with Rice and UTSA for first in the conference with the bulk of the conference slate still to come.
“We’ve lost two games at this field, you know who those two have been to? That team,” Tigers head coach Brooks Monaghan said as he gestured to the Bulls’ bench. “This was a really good win, they’re good. I know people get caught up when they see Vanderbilt, Missouri and the SEC, but this is the same level of team.”
Things got off to a slow start for the Tigers offensively. They had a few good chances when players broke away, but the help was slow to get there in the first half, and it resulted in a few missed opportunities. This was the third game in a row where Memphis failed to score in the first period. “If I’m dead honest, I think they got the better of us the first half,” Monaghan said.
Memphis keeper Abby Kudla put it best when she was trying to rally her team to start the second half. “We need more energy,” she shouted to her team from across the field. That’s exactly what she got.
In the 51st minute, Alex Mackay scored her second goal in two games as she took a cross from Flavie Dubé and buried it in the top-right corner of the net to give Memphis a 1-0 lead.
“Once you have a goal, you just want to keep going,” Mackay said. “I will say, my confidence is really high at the moment. I’m doing stuff that I don’t think I would necessarily be doing without these goals.”
After Mackay found the back of the net, the Tigers snatched the momentum of the match. USF increased the pace of the game to try and equalize, but the Bulls let their defensive guard down against one of the fastest teams in the nation in Memphis. This led to junior Ashley Henderson getting fouled late in the 71st minute where she proceeded to drill a free kick to give her team a 2-0 advantage.
At this point, Memphis had the Bulls dead to rights. USF had only two shots after conceding the first goal and the Tigers wanted to make a statement by keeping their foot on the gas. In the 86th minute, Ai Kitagawa put the game on ice when she sent a ball from about 25 feet away and found the back of the net, for Memphis’ third score of the match.
“You can’t rest against this team, they’re too good offensively. Some of your best defense is your offense, right? That’s really what happened in the second half. We lifted our offense, and it didn’t allow them to play as much,” Monaghan said.
Memphis will be back in action at 11 a.m. on Sunday when it travels to Houston to take on No. 25 Rice in a massive matchup at the top of the American. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
