UofM Women’s Soccer Opens Fall Camp

The women’s soccer team is, without a doubt, currently the best athletic program at the University of Memphis. Year in and year out, they continue to surpass their own previous highs. They have been to six straight NCAA Tournaments and seven of the last eight. They have won three straight conference championships and four of the last six. They have advanced in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments and have made back-to-back Sweet Sixteens. In that time, they have compiled a record of 112-34-17 (W-L-D) for a win percentage of 74%.

The recent, sustained success has Head Coach Brooks Monaghan ready for a new season.

“Another year.” Monaghan said. “Going into my 25th year. Obviously super excited about this group. Got some very big shoes to fill, not only individual talent but the leadership, coming off back-to-back Sweet Sixteens. It’s the first day of camp. We’ve still got a lot of work to do and a lot of work ahead of us, but really looking forward to the season.”

While some coaches at different levels of different sports may try to shy away from discussing past success to focus on the present, Monaghan doesn’t feel like the success of the program is something they can just ignore.

“We do. I mean, because once you get a taste of something obviously you don’t want to drop the standard.” he said. “But every year is a new team, so we use it to hold our team to a high standard. But at the same time as a coach, you’ve got to be realistic. We have a lot of new faces, and a lot of young faces, this year. And like I said, a lot of work ahead of us if we’re going to have a chance to do what we did last year.”

Not only does the success of the program help the team maintain a high standard for themselves, but it also comes in quite handy on the recruiting trail.

“Yeah it does. It absolutely does. Back-to-back Sweet Sixteens right? There’s not many teams in the country that can say that. It used to be conference championships and now we’ve kind of taken it to another level. That doesn’t mean we get every kid we recruit, but most kids will now at least take our first phone call.”

One of the biggest pairs of shoes for the new players to fill is those of Mya Jones. Jones was taken in the 3rd round of the 2024 NWSL Draft by the San Diego Wave, with whom she has one goal in ten appearances. They may be big shoes to fill, but her success has brought further renown to the Tigers program.

“Yeah, I couldn’t be more proud of Mya. We knew for a while she was going to be a pro. We didn’t know that she was going to make it to that level right off the bat. So, super proud of her and it’s garnered a lot of attention for us and we talk about it with our recruits. Obviously, we recruit heavily in Canada. It’s really hard to get drafted in that league if you aren’t on a full national team. And Mya wasn’t on the full national team. I think she will be eventually, but it’s helped a tremendous amount.”

One of the key returning players is goalkeeper Kaylie Biermann. Last year, Biermann was the main goalkeeper who kept a total of twelve clean sheets for a team that won 20 games. Like her coach, Biermann isn’t afraid to discuss the history of the program, but like her coach, doesn’t let it take away from her focus on the upcoming season.

“I think that it is always really, really fun to talk about the past.” Biermann said. “Obviously, with all the new girls they know about our history as well. But I think what’s important for us, is just to talk about what we can accomplish this year. Always accomplishing or trying to accomplish better. I think the main thing is, just be proud of what we did in the past but be focused on what we can do in the future.”

Despite losing key players from last year, like Mya Jones, Biermann is impressed with what she’s seen from the incoming freshman players.

“I would say the first thing is, we have a big freshman class that came in. I would say that every single one of them is on board. We just had our team meeting and Coach mentioned something about diving in headfirst and not dipping your toe in the water. I think that was really important for the freshman to hear as well.”

When asked what she was looking forward to the most, Biermann had to chuckle.

“Just touching the field again with the girls.” she said. “Obviously there’s new girls, but playing ball is always the same. I’m really, really excited to just go play with the girls, new and old. See what the new girls can do. We haven’t seen the freshman and everything they can do, so I’m excited to see them 11v11 and see kind of what they show.”

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