MEMPHIS – Coach Brooks Monaghan and his team’s dreams of a championship ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament to the hands of the Louisville Cardinals.
Although the No. 5 University of Memphis women’s soccer team saw what many believed to be a pre-mature exit in the tournament, they placed themselves in Memphis lore as one of the great teams the city and the university has seen.
When the Lady Tigers defeated the University of El-Paso Texas Miners 2-1, they accomplished a lot more than winning a double-overtime thriller for their fifth-straight Conference-USA tournament championship.
With the title, the Lady Tigers became one of eight teams in NCAA Division I history to win five-straight conference tournament titles. They have also won 14-straight matches in C-USA tournament play. Ten of those 14 matches have come by shutout and have outscored opponents 34-4 during that stretch.
“I honestly can’t even put into words what we’ve done this season,” said Smith. “You think you’re lucky getting to play for one championship, but to get a chance to play for five and come up big each time is just an unbelievable feeling.”
The championship did not come easily. The Miners pushed the Lady Tigers as far as they could, but as the case has been all year, Memphis dug deep and grinded out a victory.
“(Going into overtime) we just said we have come too far to not leave everything on the field,” said senior forward Melissa Smith. “We just told each other to believe in everyone and we will come out successful.”
The Lady Tigers must have kept belief in one another because in the 103rd minute Oduro found freshman forward-midfielder Kaitlyn Atkins open in the center seven yards away from the net. Atkins wasted no time striking the ball past the Miner’s goalkeeper for the 2-1 win and the tournament title.
“It was an awesome feeling scoring the game-winning goal,” said Atkins. “It was really a dream come true.”
A golden goal win was a fit ending to a magical regular season. The Lady Tigers have seen one record after another fall this season. Senior goalkeeper Elise Kuhar-Pitters and the Lady Tigers have posted a school record 14 shutouts this season.
“To keep winning every year has made an unbelievable time here,” said Kuhar-Pitters. “I give all the credit to the defense as a whole. I can’t tell you how honored I am to play with them. It’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
Kuhar-Pitters has cemented herself as the best goalkeeper in the program’s history and among the best all-time in NCAA history. The shutout over East Carolina gave Kuhar-Pitters 37 shutouts for her career. That moved her into sole possession of third-place all-time in Division I women’s soccer. She allowed nine goals on the season for a program record .407 goals-against-average which was good enough to rank her in the top ten nationally at No. 7.
The 18 regular season wins were also a program record. Other notable categories the team set school records in included: 11 road wins, eight straight matches with at least two goals, and a No. 3 national ranking.
“I have never been more proud of a team that I have coached,” said Monaghan. “The character of this team is unbelievable. It truly has been an honor to watch them progress and do the things they have done this season.”
The Lady Tigers sparked their magical run with stellar defense. Eleven C-USA opponents faced the Lady Tigers’ defense, but they managed only five goals combined on 40 shots with eight of them being shut out. The Lady Tigers hit a stretch where they shut out four-straight opponents, a program record.
“We always know where each other are on the field and that helps to keep opponents out of the goal,” said Simonin. “We use our experience together to shut down the other team so that offensively we have as many opportunities to score as possible.”
If the defense sparked the run, then the offense kept it going. The Lady Tigers remained offensively balance all year with 62 goals, a program record, between 13 different players. Eight of those players have three or more goals, while six players have five or more. They also recorded 47 assists by 15 different players.
More information on the team’s championship and their record setting season can be found at their home site. Statistics for the season and how the Lady Tigers have matched up against the rest of the NCAA is available at the NCAA's Division I Women's Soccer site.
The Lady Tigers’ season cannot be measured by their early exit in the NCAA tournament. As Monaghan said, not many teams can say they finished the season 22-1-1. Their run brought the national spotlight and earned the program the respect it has asked for.
“The sky is the limit for these girls,” said Monaghan. “Sure I am disappointed it all had to come to an end, but when you look at the whole season I think it has its place in history as one of the best the NCAA has ever seen.”
No comments:
Post a Comment