Tigers Soccer Double-Header: Men Lose, Women Win

Sunday evening say a rare double-header for the University of Memphis men’s and women’s soccer teams. The men’s team got the night off to an inauspicious beginning as they fell 3-0 to Central Arkansas. Fortunately, the women’s team got the night back on track with a 4-2 win over Iowa State.

For the men’s team it’s their third loss in four games to start the season. Tonight, they once again conceded the opening goal in the first few minutes. As was the case in their first two losses this season, they started to play better and got into halftime down just 1-0. And just like their first two losses this season, they started the second half the better team before conceding again and ultimately losing the game, this one 3-0. It’s a trend that has Coach Richard Mulrooney very frustrated.

“Right now, I’m at a loss.” he said. “I feel like we’re prepared for these games and yet we give up another early goal. We got outworked and we got outcoached. We’ve got some figuring out to do. 1-3 not the way we wanted to start. We’re not in conference yet so I truly believe we can still figure things out. But we’re going to have to do it pretty quick.”

The conceding of early goals is something that really sticks in Coach Mulrooney’s craw, but it’s not an issue with an easy or obvious solution.

“Man, I wish I could answer that. I don’t know. We’ve tried different techniques, we’ve tried mental things. It’s just not meant to be in terms of stopping other teams. All we can do is keep trying. Maybe I need to go direct at the beginning of the game. Maybe I need to get the kickoff and just try to keep possession. It’s a long season and I’ve got to figure something because what we’re doing is not working.”

One thing that stands out about this team is that they seem to respond well to going down a goal and seizing the momentum of the game but then being unable to put any of the chances away.

“That’s a great point. I think it’s almost like the guys are relieved. ‘Oh, we’ve given up that one goal now we can play freely.’ I’m not really sure where that mentality comes from but you’re right. It seems like we pick it up. But, I’ll tell you what. They punched us in the mouth a second time and then the third. Even as bad as we played in the first half, we still had those couple opportunities. Someone just needs to step up and get on the end of them. And then that lifts the morale of the team and next thing you know we’re in it.”

But Mulrooney maintains that, with conference play still in the offing, there is time for this team to right the ship.

“I started 1-5 a few years ago. Sort of figured out a style we wanted to do and then actually ended up making the conference tournament. Which, I know we’re capable of, we’re just off right now and teams are taking advantage of it and they’re not going to feel sorry for us. So, it’s up to us to try to figure out what that mentality is, how we want to play and get after it. This wasn’t the way we wanted to start the year. Having said that, conference starts in two weeks. We have some time, but time is getting less and less every hour.”

Following the disappointing men’s game, the women’s team took the field for their third straight game against a power conference opponent. They had won their last two games, both on the road against SEC teams: 2-0 against Missouri and 2-1 against Ole Miss. Tonight, they jumped on Iowa State out of the Big XII early, and they jumped on them often. Anna Hauer opened the scoring for the Tigers with a shot from just outside the six-yard box. Shortly thereafter, Momo Nakao added a second after a scramble on the goal line. Iowa State duly answered to halve the deficit, but the Tigers responded almost immediately as Ashley Henderson scored a delightful backheel to make it 3-1.

In the second half, Iowa State once again tried to battle back, cutting the deficit to 3-2. But the Tigers again responded almost immediately as Anna Hauer got her second goal of the game. And that’s the way it would finish. With the win the Tigers improved to 4-0 on the season, bettering their start from last season. It’s a very good result that had Coach Brooks Monaghan feeling good after the game.

“Look, winning is not easy.” said Monaghan. “This is a good opponent. We did a lot of things well. Still some things that, you know, obviously at this point in the season you’re going to be firing on all cylinders. But overall, pleased with the performance and pleased with the result.”

What Coach Monaghan was especially pleased with tonight was the way his team was able to immediately respond each time they conceded a goal.

“Yes, absolutely. That was one of the very bright spots, right? And I’ve coached teams that kind of put their heads down so that was great to see. Because you’re going to need that at different times in the year and not to ever get too far down on yourself. So, I was very pleased with that.

We always talk about ‘make a team beat you’ and what I mean by ‘beat you’ is make them break you down. They scored off a set piece, their first set piece. And we were really emphasizing that this team is good on set pieces so a little bit disappointed in that. Little things to learn from but it’s always great to learn from a good result.”

With three straight wins against power conference teams under their belt, the Tigers have two more coming up with Kansas State and Tennessee. Coach Monaghan believes they will both provide quality tests for his team.

“It’ll be another good test.” he said. “We need to, this week, work on getting little bit better. If we do, and we come in here with the right mentality, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

The women’s team will be back at the Billy Murphy Track & Soccer Stadium next Sunday, September 8 at 10am (yes, 10am) when they host Kansas State out of the Big XII. The next home game for the men’s team is on Thursday, September 12 when they host SIU-Edwardsville (who they earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament win against just last season).