The University of Memphis men's soccer team was taken out of their element Saturday night by Vanderbilt University.
Dayton O'Brien, senior attacker, had only one shot on goal and didn't register a point in the seven goal affair that ended 4-3 in favor of Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt scored the first goal, something that only two of the other nine Tigers opponents have done. Memphis' first shot on goal didn't come until 11 minutes into the game. Gavin McInerney had never given up four goals before this season, but it happened Saturday night to extend Memphis' losing streak to three games and also ending a 10-game home winning streak.
Goaltending wasn't at it's best for Memphis as McInerney struggled to stop shots consistently.
On the first goal of the game, by Vanderbilt's Patrick Murray, the sophomore couldn't get in position to make a save.
"He got the shot off pretty early," he said. "I did freeze for a second."
The list of what went wrong for the Tigers is a lengthy one.
"They caused us problems," head coach Richie Grant said. "Their forwards were fast, quick and got behind us. We didn't defend them as we would have liked in the second half."
A total of five goals were scored in the second half, but a 2-0 lead at the half helped Vanderbilt overcome any errors that they made in the second 45 minutes.
But the second half wasn't void of excitement.
In the second stanza, Memphis came back to tie Vanderbilt twice.
The first time came with two goals in two and a half minutes on goals from Marcus McCarty and Jared Britcher.
After a goal from Vanderbilt's Joe Germanese in the 79th minute to make it 3-2, Memphis again answered off the foot of senior forward Cormac McArdle less than a minute later.
Germanese was Vanderbilt's best player scoring six points on two goals and two assists.
"The ability to come back was tremendous," Grant said. "Even 2-nil down you felt like you had some good chances."
However, the final and best chance went to Vanderbilt's leading scorer coming into the game, John Krause, in the 82nd minute.
Krause kicked in the game winner on a rebound off Memphis goalie Gavin McInerney.
"I thought we were strong in areas and that we made mistakes at times," said McArdle. "In ever single game that we've lost this season we've made two or three mistakes, and they've been punished. We need to get back to the training ground again."
Memphis tried to fix what ailed them in their losses against Creighton and Drake in the week leading up to Vanderbilt. And according to McArdle, the mistakes in the two previous losses weren't a problem Saturday.
The loss hasn't phased McInerney's confidence and his outlook on the season.
"With this team we'll win though you know," he said. "This team has a lot of winners on it, and (we're) determined to win."
Memphis will try to rebound, and end their losing streak, Friday when they start Conference USA play at Tulsa.
