Memphis Women’s Soccer Draws 1-1 With East Carolina

Sunday afternoon at the Billy Murphy Track & Soccer Stadium was a disappointing one for the Memphis women’s soccer team. Coming into the game they were riding a 17-game home winning streak. Despite controlling most of the game against the Pirates, the Tigers were unable to get the win and instead settled for a 1-1 draw.

“Oh, very disappointed.” said Coach Brooks Monaghan. “I just told them every play matters. I did feel like we controlled the game, and I should be saying, ‘You know what? That was a tough match, but you controlled the game.’ Then we got lazy. On one play we had possession of the ball, and we didn’t open up for each other because we got lazy, and they burned us on it. They had one chance that we gave them, and they scored. That’s not good enough. It’s disappointing.”

As Coach Monaghan said, the Tigers controlled most of the game. They scored in the first half off a textbook corner kick. Ai Kitagawa served in a great ball that Anne-Valerie Seto rose above everybody to head home from just outside the six yard box.

The Tigers then controlled most of the second half, until a poor giveaway led to East Carolina’s goal from distance to tie things up with just over 15 minutes remaining in the game. The goal seemed to inject new intensity into both teams. The Tigers had most of the chances for the remainder of the game but couldn’t direct any of them into the Pirates goal and had to settle for the 1-1 draw. That they are so disappointed with the result speaks volumes about both the stature and the expectations of the program.

“You know, with this program, ties are losses.” Monaghan said. “I mean, you’ve got to let it burn and have to learn from it. If you learn from it, fair enough. If you don’t learn from it, shame on you and coach probably needs to find somebody else to play. But look. I love this group and there’s a lot of talent and it just goes back to every play matters.”

Following today’s draw the Tigers are now 9-1-2 on the season (W-L-D). They play their next game on the road against FAU on October 20, before returning home to face Rice on Thursday, October 24 at 7pm.