The Memphis women’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 tie against East Carolina (ECU) at home Sunday afternoon.
The draw ends the Tigers’ 17 game home winning streak. Memphis had won every home game since September of 2022 prior to the contest.
Coming off a dominating 4-0 performance at Temple, the Tigers came home with momentum.
Meanwhile, ECU came to Memphis after a 3-0 loss against South Florida.
It looked as though the Tigers would continue their momentum early in the contest. In the 22nd minute, an Ai Kitagawa corner led to Anne-Valerie Seto scoring to give Memphis a 1-0 lead.
In what was the theme of the entire game, neither team was able to get many shots off in the first half.
ECU outshot the Tigers 3-2 in the first half, but none of those shots posed a serious threat for Memphis goalkeeper Kaylie Bierman.
In the second half, Memphis maintained steady possession, but, unlike their previous two matches, that possession did not translate into scoring chances.
The East Carolina defense dropped back consistently, limiting Memphis’ chance to get the ball in the box.
After 30 minutes of defense, the Pirates found the equalizer. In the 75th minute, ECU’s Caitlen-Star Dolan Boodram sank a ridiculous shot from well outside of the box, just out of reach of Bierman.
The Tigers pushed the pace in an attempt to regain the lead, but they continued to struggle to get shots off.
With the clock winding down, an East Carolina defender appeared to have passed the ball back to their keeper, who picked it up and ran out the clock. Much to the dismay of Memphis, the referee did not call a back-pass penalty and the time expired.
There were a combined nine shots in the game, which was a stark contrast to the Temple game Thursday where the Tigers got off 24 shots themselves.
The 1-1 draw drops Memphis to 9-1-2 on the season. The Tigers will look to get back in the win column next Sunday at Florida Atlantic.
