UofM Men’s Soccer Season Preview

The men’s soccer team at the University of Memphis has begun their preseason. Their first game was in Nashville against Kentucky on Sunday afternoon. Tonight, they played their first home exhibition game against Meridian. Thus far, Coach Richard Mulrooney has liked what he’s seen from his team, despite it being early in the preseason.

“I think they’ve served the purpose of what we’re looking for” said Mulrooney. “Obviously with new guys in and being a little over a week into preseason, we’re looking to get minutes and learn from it. I think we did that in Nashville against Kentucky, which obviously speaks for itself. They’re a solid team. I thought, considering it was the first time we stepped on the field, we put in a good performance. We had our mistakes but the weren’t the same mistakes over and over. The guys made them, corrected them, new guys came in and put their best foot forward. I was very pleased with the outcome of getting as many minutes as we did to the guys against Kentucky.”

He continued.

“Moving into tonight, some of the guys that didn’t play as much in the Kentucky game got more minutes and it took us a little while. Give the other team credit. At the end of the day, I think we were just lacking a little execution in the first half and a little discipline. Had a critical error that maybe they could have scored on, but putting that aside kept a shutout. I was disappointed with not having any goals in the first half, but 45 more minutes to play and I thought in the second half we played with a little more tempo. I think we were able to get on top of them a little quicker. Defensively we were able to turn them over in their half more than ours.”

On the campus of the University of Memphis, there is no more successful team than the women’s soccer team. However, they aren’t the only successful soccer program for the Tigers. The men’s soccer team has quietly had a nice couple of years, with consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history. Last year, they won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time ever and did so at home in front of 1,029 people at the Billy Murphy Track & Soccer Stadium. They lost a few key players but were able to find quality replacements as Coach Mulrooney detailed.

“Obviously you have people that graduated or transferred out.” he said. “Those are always pieces that have a ton of experience whether they were seniors or if they were starters that transferred out. You always deal with that, every program does. So, you hope that the players you bring in can come in and fill a role. And not necessarily just fill a role, but fill a role that, if it’s a starter, they can come in and fill what was needed and then some.

You also lose those guys that left that experience. So, to have back-to-back NCAA’s, that’s what you want in your locker room. It’s not the be-all, end-all. But my point being is bringing in fresh blood. New blood that wants to experience that as well that has transferred from a school that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament or hasn’t done as well in the conference. They want to come in and taste the success that we’re having and then maybe get us over the edge of winning a conference championship or getting a little bit further in the NCAA Tournament. “

He might be sad to see some of his experienced players go, but Coach Mulrooney is also really excited about the players they have been able to bring in.

“The group that’s come in, I like. I really do. We’ve added some more firepower up top. I think we’re dangerous. Defensively, we don’t lose a lot, but we’ve added some pieces to fill the roles of some of the seniors that left. And obviously we lost a couple goalkeepers and that spot has opened up. I think Justin and Phillip, along with the other two, have come in and are battling for that spot.”

As Coach Mulrooney points out, the Tigers won’t be a finished product by the time the first regular season game rolls around on August 22nd against Lipscomb. But in addition to few, if any, other teams finished products that early in the season, the Tigers get the benefit of having five of their first seven games at home. Coach Mulrooney believes that could be important to the Tigers getting off to a fast start this season.

“I think so. Being at home has treated us well. I think maybe lost one, might have lost a second one there last year. But we’ve had more of a winning performance at home the last year or two than we had previously. Being at home should be a fortress for us. It should be a place that teams, I wouldn’t say fear, but just don’t like coming here. Whether it’s because of the weather or whether it’s because of the fans or more importantly because we pressed somebody for 90 minutes, made it a tough game, and they walk out of here without getting the result they wanted.”

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