Loretta McNamee and Lisa Wourms, goalkeepers for the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, may not want to see the color blue for a long time. When they saw it last Sunday it usually meant the scoreboard was going to change for the worse.
The University of Memphis women’s soccer team blitzed TTU for almost the entire 90 minutes of the match that ended with the Tigers’ win, 7-0 in its season opener.
“It was great to see us score that many goals,” said head coach Brooks Monaghan. “You don’t know what to expect that early (from the team).”
The scoring started a little over eight minutes into the match with a 40-yard free kick. Five goals and 80 minutes later, the last goal was scored unassisted by fellow Japanese player Asuka Kubota.
Kubota was the star of the match tallying two goals and two assists. She is a sophomore for Memphis and a transfer from Martin Methodist College. Mikami also had two goals and an assist to Nicky McLeod.
Mikami, a junior, missed the first eight games of her 1st season at Memphis fresh off a transfer from Division II Christian Brothers University, where she led the nation in goals, goals per game and points per game.
Monaghan’s team is already benefiting from his team’s youth. His 2005 recruiting class was ranked 27th in the nation, according to soccerbuzz.com.
Freshman Kylie Hayes scored an early goal to make it 2-0, and freshmen Kate Murphy and Sarah MacGregor each had an assist.
“We’ve got a really young team,” said Monaghan, who has depth to go along with the youth.
Last year the Lady Tigers beat the Golden Eagles only 2-0 and Monaghan said a big different between this year and last is the amount of depth.
“This year’s squad is much deeper,” he said. “(It’s) quite better.”
On a team with only two seniors, redshirt junior MeLeod will help Monaghan prepare the youth for this season and the future, and she is doing it by example.
McLeod had a goal and an assist in the win and her first game since she tore her ACL in the spring of 2004.
“They’re stepping in like they were returnees,” said McLeod of the freshmen. “They’ve shown a lot of maturity and confidence.”
However, the win wasn’t perfect no matter what the scoreboard said.
Monaghan said the defense of the Lady Tigers still has work to do if they want to get to the next level. And, since the defense is what gets the offense started it means that much more.
The improvements may need to come quickly if Memphis wants to continue this type of success.
“It’s going to get tougher,” Monaghan said.
The next game for the Lady Tigers is Friday in Birmingham, Ala. at the Samford Bulldog Soccer Classic against the host school. The next home game is one week from today against UT-Martin at 7 p.m. at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.
Injury report: Caroline Allen, GK — day-to-day (back), Elaine Sedgewick, MF/D - MCL tear.
