All year they have had only one goal — to make it to the Conference USA Tournament.
And, with its best conference record in the team’s eight-year history, The University of Memphis women’s soccer team has earned its first berth in the tournament in five years.
The Tigers (9-9-1 overall, 5-5 in C-USA), who secured the eighth seed in the tournament, will face Charlotte on Wednesday at 8:30p.m. at TransAmerica field.
Did we mention that Charlotte is undefeated, ranked 12th in the country and 1st in C-USA and that the 49ers are hosting this year’s tournament and that they have beaten Memphis each of the eight times the two teams have met, five of which were by shutout?
They are good, to say the least.
That being said, the Lady Tiger squad believes it can be competitive and if things go its way maybe squeak out a victory, said head coach Brooks Monaghan.
“(Charlotte) is an extremely talented squad,” said Monaghan. “But I am confident out club can go into this tournament and have some success. We played great against them in the first half earlier this season. We just have to put two solid halves of soccer together, and anything can happen.”
When Memphis faced Charlotte (8-0-2, 15-0-2) earlier this season it held the 49ers scoreless in the first half before giving up three goals in the second half and losing 3-0.
Memphis must remain focused and continue its momentum into the first-round match if the team hopes to have a shot at upsetting the 49ers, Monaghan said.
“We are excited to be in the postseason, but we don’t want to have a letdown just because we reached one of our goals,” he said. “The girls are playing their best right now, and we want to carry that into the tournament.”
Some of the team’s momentum comes from three players: goalkeeper Katarina Wicksell, midfielder Alison Baker and midfielder Nicky McLeod, being selected to all conference teams.
Wicksell, a junior, was named to Second-Team All C-USA. Wicksell also earned C-USA defensive player of the week earlier this season; Baker earned a spot on the Third-Team and McLeod was named to the All-Freshman team.
Charlotte forward Courtney Crandell was named the C-USA player of the year and scored a conference record 20 goals this season.
Crandell is the first freshman to ever win the award.
