The University of Memphis women’s soccer team notched their first American Athletic Conference victory of the season in dramatic fashion against South Florida on Sunday, getting the winning goal off the boot of senior Kaitlyn Atkins in the 81st minute at Mike Rose Soccer Complex.
The Lady Tigers’ 1-0 win over the Bulls pushes their season mark to 4-5-2 (1-1-0 AAC). The Blue and Gray have seven games remaining in the season with all coming against AAC competition.
Atkins said the Lady Tigers wanted to avenge their tough 2-1 loss to No. 23 Central Florida last Thursday.
“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in,” Atkins said after the game. “Our first three games are going to be some of our toughest opponents, and dropping an unlucky one on Thursday was motivation to come in and win this one. We fought, and it was a typical Sunday game where it’s a scorcher and we’re tired. But we won.”
Memphis controlled the first half for the most part, outshooting USF 5-4. Despite the five shots, the Lady Tigers only put two on goal, which the Bulls’ keeper saved.
Defensively, the U of M’s defenders forced the USF attack away from the center of the penalty box, allowing sophomore goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel to go the entire opening half unchallenged.
The game opened up more in the second half of play. The Lady Tigers came out of the locker room in attack mode, placing a shot on goal in the first five minutes of the second half.
The Bulls manufactured some chances of their own, but Bard-Martel was up to the challenge, making three second-half saves for the shutout.
Atkins finally broke through for Memphis in the 81st minute for the Lady Tigers’ only goal. Memphis senior Nugene Nugent took a shot only to have it blocked, but Atkins cleaned up the miss for a rebound goal.
“I’ve been struggling getting the ball in the back of the net and on frame, so I just made sure that I kept it low and on frame,” Atkins said. “It just went through the keeper’s legs and got lucky going in, but I’m glad it did.”
Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan said he was proud of the way the Lady Tigers adjusted on the fly in the second half.
“I thought we had the better play in the first half, but they made some adjustments and made it tough and caused us a few problems,” Monaghan said after the game. “I thought we adapted during the game. Obviously, we were fortunate to get the goal and hold on.”
Memphis outshot USF 13-8 on the game, but the Lady Tigers only put one more shot on goal (4) than the Bulls (3).
The U of M also won the corner battle, earning eight corners over the course of the game. USF finished with only four.
Both Atkins and Monaghan mentioned the role the unexpected wave of heat played on the game. However, Memphis played 18 players in the game to keep fresh sets of legs on the field at all times.
“We were able to use a lot of players,” Monaghan said. “I thought the great thing about today was when we made the subs the level of play didn’t drop off.”
Memphis gets a few days off before its contest with UConn in Storrs, Connecticut, on Thursday.
