2-1 win over SMU keeps Memphis women’s soccer perfect in conference play

The University of Memphis women’s soccer team returned to the Billy Murphy Track and Soccer Stadium looking to keep their record in AAC play perfect. Their most recent outing was a 1-0 win on the road against new conference member UTSA. But Thursday night’s home game against SMU was a much tougher test as it was a rematch of last year’s AAC Tournament Final, won by the Tigers.

SMU might be leaving the AAC for the ACC in the near future, but Coach Brooks Monaghan was very complimentary of the Mustangs.

“First of all, they are a very good team. They’ve beaten some big teams. They beat Baylor, they beat Oklahoma State, they beat Tennessee. So, they are a quality team. Winning is tough and so is winning against quality opponents so I have to give them credit.”

When asked if this was a game the Tigers had circled on the calendar, Monaghan didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah, for sure. And we had to because they did too. You’ve got to be able to match that. Tough game man. Tough game. We’re ecstatic to get the result, but I’m a coach, right? You’re always striving for better. And we’ve got to make sure this group understands that and that they’re doing well. But I don’t want this team to be good. I want them to be great.”

The Tigers definitely started the game off great as Mya Jones, who Coach Monaghan said is “playing with a lot of confidence. Scored two incredible goals. Very proud of her.” managed to bag two goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.

“I loved the way we started because we really emphasized this week at practice. For us, I love the way we started. But towards the middle of the first half kind of got away from what we were doing, had a good halftime talk, and then the second half was kind of the ebbs and flows. First half we had some chances to put the game away. You’re not going to finish all of your chances but if we got one more it would have made a big difference. But this team is finding a way to win no matter what.”

Those ebbs and flows certainly came into play in the second half as SMU came out much more focused and determined and with 25 minutes left to play were awarded a penalty. They didn’t miss and that really put the pressure on the Tigers. They were able to see out the game to earn the 2-1 win, but as ever, Coach Monaghan still sees areas where his team can improve.

“Consistency. We’re having some top players not have great games when we need to have them shine in the big games. And we have enough cover for them, but that part has to get better. I think there’s a few kids that unfortunately are struggling with a little bit of confidence and I’m thinking that if you’re a freshman starting for a top 10 team how can you not have confidence? Or another player playing another position starting for a top 10 team. What more confidence do you need? So, it’s managing that, and I think when we get the group entirely confident, that’s when we’re going to be at our best. So, we’re working on that.”

But all that aside, the Tigers are still perfect in conference play and have a 9-1 record overall which sets them up nicely for the postseason.

“Today was a monster match. The way this conference in women’s soccer is set up you have a West champion, you have an East champion and everything else is for seeding. So, we’re playing for a championship in the West but obviously that’s not our end goal, right? We want to go and compete and hopefully challenge for a conference championship and then obviously go on a deep run in the NCAA. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint. So tomorrow we’re just gonna start preparing for next week.”

The next week for the Tigers is on the road in Houston against Rice. They have two more road games after that, against East Carolina and Charlotte, before their next home game on October 19 against UAB.