The Memphis men's soccer team fought for a hard-earned 1-1 tie against Southern Illinois University at Evansville (SIUE) in what was a rematch of last season's first round of the NCAA tournament.
The rematch was originally scheduled for Thursday night at the Billy J. Murphy Track and Soccer Complex, but it was pushed to Friday afternoon due to weather concerns.
While the weather was better than the storms from Thursday, the Tigers and the Cougars battled through ninety minutes of steady rain.
Memphis came out of the gates as the aggressor, getting a couple of shots of in the first ten minutes. The closest of these came from Lucho Galizzi, but it was saved by SIUE goalkeeper Rob Gjelaj.
In the 13th minute, Memphis turned the ball over near the SIUE box, and the Cougars pushed the ball quickly the other way. Last year's OVC tournament MVP Nacho Abeal scored off this counter attack, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead.
A few minutes later, SIUE midfielder Patrick Coleman got injured attempting to keep a ball in play. On the ensuing throw-in, Memphis got the ball into the box and Tiger midfielder Anthony DiFalco found the net to even the score.
The rain began to pick up after Memphis' goal and neither team saw another good scoring chance in the first half.
At the halftime break, Memphis made three substitutions and SIUE made five.
The second half saw the Tigers dominate possession and shots, but Gjelaj made several fine saves to keep the score deadlocked.
In the final minute, Memphis had two great looks on goal, but SIUE's defense made the stop both times.
The Tigers outshot SIUE 16-8 in the contest, while also earning ten corners to the Cougars' three.
With the draw, Memphis finishes non-conference play at 2-4-1. The Tigers will look to start off AAC play with a win next Friday when they travel to Tulsa. They will play the Golden Hurricanes at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
