The University of Memphis Tiger soccer team fought and clawed its way through an emotionally and physically draining semi-final match of the C-USA tournament with the Billikens of Saint Louis on Nov 10. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Billikens who with the help of just under 1,000 fans, escaped with a 3-2 win and advanced to the championship match on Sunday. Memphis however, did leave the match with a strong showing on SLU's home field and despite a losing effort, capped off a tremendous season were they finished 14-6-0 which stands as the best team record since 1992 when the Tigers finished 14-3-2. Time and time again, this Memphis team displayed amazing feats of resiliance and showed that even when down, they never let up and never lost faith.
The Memphis defense played a solid game for the second game in two days as did Tiger keeper Clark Talley who while giving up three goals, still made six saves off 19 Billiken shots. In fact, during the first nine minutes of play SLU was all over the U of M, firing seven shots at Talley.
SLU jumped out of the gate early and took a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute when Nick Walls headed a serve from Joe Hammes in the upper corner past a helpless Talley.
The Billikens got another chance when Brian Hadican slammed a shot from 23 yards out off the far post in the 11th minute but fortunately for Memphis it was cleared out of harm's way. SLU kept the pressure on and never ceased attacking the Tigers and had another key opportunity in the 12th minute when Jack Jewsbury headed a cross but was turned away by Talley who had positioned himself perfectly for the save.
At the beginning of the second half, SLU wasted little time and added to their lead in the 51st minute when Jack Jewsbury put back a rebound off a tremendous save from Talley, into an empty net, giving the Billikens a 3-1 advantage. Talley then came up big again in the 58th minute when he swallowed a 24 foot blast from Mike Hill, keeping the Tigers in the match.
The Tigers didn't stay down for long and came roaring back in the 66th minute after sophomore defender Chris Schmidt banged home a suberb serve into the far post, from senior midfielder Michael Shipman which helped close the gap at 3-2. The Billikens however showed their experience and sprang right back with two point-blank chances in a row on the ensuing possession but were stopped by Talley. Eight minutes later, Memphis had a golden chance of their own when White blasted a rocket from 13 yards but was denied by Politis who came through for SLU with a brilliant save in crunch time.
Both teams battled for the remainder of the game and the rough play with it. With 34 seconds remaining, White was sent off for a hard tackle from behind in what appeared to be nothing more than a simple act of frustration.
The match featured a total of 39 fouls with 26 of them being called on Memphis.
