Memphis women’s soccer to host LSU in first round of NCAA Tournament

The field for the 2023 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament is set and the University of Memphis now knows how their postseason journey begins.

The Tigers of Memphis will be facing the Tigers of LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite having just one loss and winning four games against Power 5 opponents, Memphis was egregiously installed as a 6-seed by the Tournament Committee. It’s also worth noting that the UofM was ranked #3 in the Top Drawer Soccer Poll as well as #8 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. How a Top 10 team in the country is considered to be no better than the 21st ranked team in the country is anybody’s guess.

The route taken by the Tigers to get to this point has been an impressive one. They have, so far this season, posted a record of 18-1-0, with the lone loss coming by a single goal on the road against a ranked Alabama team that went to the College Cup semi-finals last year. This year, the Tigers have been the cream of the crop in the AAC as they won the West Division and the conference regular season title. Most recently, they won their third consecutive AAC Tournament title. In that tournament they defeated UAB 2-1, Charlotte 2-0, and SMU 2-1 in a rematch of last year’s final.

This also marks the Tigers sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and seventh in the last eight seasons. Last year was their best finish as they went all the way to the Sweet Sixteen before falling on penalties to Arkansas in Fayetteville. This year is the first time since 2021 that the Tigers have hosted an NCAA Tournament game at the South Campus. That year, a Billy Murphy Track & Soccer Stadium record crowd of 1,309 turned up to see the Tigers crush LSU by a score of 3-0.

Kickoff at the Billy Murphy Track & Soccer Stadium is set for 7pm on Saturday, November 11. Should Memphis defeat LSU and advance to the next round of the Tournament, they would more than likely face the 3-seed Notre Dame who have a record of 11-3-4 and finished second in the ACC, though they were eliminated at the first hurdle during the ACC Tournament. Should they advance past that point they would face one of the following four teams: Pitt, Grambling State, an Ohio State team they beat 6-1 earlier this year, or the Arkansas team that eliminated them last year. The number one seed in the same quadrant as Memphis is Florida State, who have won three national titles in the last nine seasons.