After an undefeated season and earning a seven-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Memphis women’s soccer began its dance with one last home match against the Big Ten’s Illinois.
In front of a raucous crowd of 1,801 fans on the Park Avenue campus, the Tigers picked up their sixth win in the Big Dance in five years 2-1. It is also just the fifth time in program history that they will advance to the second round.
“I’m extremely proud of the way the girls played tonight,” Tigers coach Brooks Monaghan said after the game. “It’s a special group and I’m just excited to keep playing.”
When the game started, the visitors took it to Memphis. The Fighting Illini generated three corner kicks and a shot on goal in the first five minutes, but nothing came from those chances. That shot, taken in the third minute by sophomore forward Emma Yee, was the first of just six shots Illinois would generate all evening.
Once the Tigers were able to get possession of the ball, their first shot attempt came in the 12th minute when Ashley Henderson tapped it to Ai Kitagawa, who sent a laser into the top-right corner of the net to give Memphis an early lead.
“She’s been playing a little banged up throughout the season,” Monaghan said about Kitagawa. “We’ve had a couple of talks, and the message today was ‘no excuses, man.’ If your name is called, you know, you’re not hurt…There is absolutely no excuse for a match in the NCAA Tournament.”
Not to be outdone, Illinois came right back and tied the match in the 26th minute when a saved shot ricocheted back to Sydney Stephens who put it away for the visitors.
The tone of the match changed completely when, with less than 30 seconds before halftime, the visitors were called for a handball in the box. This set up Kitagawa to drill a penalty kick to give Memphis the lead heading into the locker room as the crowd erupted.
“I think being able to bring the city together for this really big game, for such a young team, is really awesome,” junior defender Finley Lavin said. “The way the crowd got really into the game with the chants, I think that really got us going and motivated us even more.”
Once the teams returned from the break, it was classic Tigers soccer. Using a mountain of offensive pressure and dominating time of possession as a form of defense. It worked to perfection, as the Fighting Illini mustered just three more shots the rest of the period, most of which came in the final five minutes. Nothing found the back of the net, and Memphis drained the final seconds away to secure the win.
The Tigers will continue dancing as they travel to Fort Worth to take on two-seeded TCU at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The game will be streamed live on the NCAA’s website.
