In front of the largest crowd in Memphis women’s soccer history, the No. 14 ranked Tigers went the distance with the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers and the game ended in a scoreless tie Thursday night.
While the result may have been a bit unsatisfying for the 2,218 fans in attendance, it is still extremely impressive for the youngest team to ever suit up for Memphis to play a full 90 minutes against one of the best teams in the country in the Volunteers.
“It was great,” Tigers defender Finley Lavin said about the home atmosphere. “The people showed out, the city really showed out. We can’t thank them enough, their support really, really helps us and we feed off it, so it’s awesome.”
The draw moves both teams’ records to 5-0-1 and maintains the Tigers’ home unbeaten streak that has lasted since October 17, 2021, when USF won in the Bluff City 1-0 in double overtime.
“I’m proud of them,” Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan said. “I think a lot of people thought that this was going to be a rebuilding year and it’s not. Tonight should prove a lot to our girls that they can compete with anybody.”
Both teams had their chances to walk away with the full three points, notably Tigers forward Ashley Henderson had a penalty kick opportunity in the 41st minute but her attempt was corralled by Vols keeper Cayden Norris to keep the game tied at zero going into halftime.
As for Tennessee, a lot of their opportunities came in the second half by applying a lot of pressure to the Tigers and sewing chaos within the defense. Despite several close shots off of set pieces, Memphis was able to hang on and force the draw.
“I have full faith in my defense,” Memphis keeper Abby Kudla said. “I make it my mission to personally get to know every one of my defenders and not just my defenders, but my team itself because I feel like if I don’t have trust or if the team doesn’t have trust in themselves, it creates a disconnect between the team and the fact that our performance has grown stronger as a team throughout all of this has really made me proud.”
Memphis was presented with a loaded non-conference schedule this season and has surpassed all expectations. Now, as the Tigers switch gears into their conference slate, they need to maintain their level of play from games versus SEC opponents into games against teams in the American.
“It’s the consistency,” Monaghan said. “I don’t want to say they’ve been real inconsistent. I think our last match, coming off when we beat Vanderbilt, I thought going into Missouri that we dropped our level a little bit. So really, the message (to the team) is consistency. Doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, bring the fight then bring your soccer.”
The Tigers will look to finish their non-conference schedule undefeated when they host the UT-Martin Skyhawks at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Park Ave. Campus. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+.
Contact Nick New at ntnew@memphis.edu.
