After rallying from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Tulsa on Monday, Memphis women’s soccer dominated Rice 3-1 to advance to the AAC Championship game against ECU, which will be on ESPNU at 1 p.m. on November 10.
The game got underway with Memphis looking to establish themselves early Anne-Valerie Seto placed a ball right in the upper-left corner of the goal after three minutes, forcing a leaping save by Owls’ keeper Faith Hutchins. Seto would also take another try five minutes later, but it sailed way over the net.
Following a shot bounced down off the crossbar just beyond the goal line for the Owls, Memphis broke the ice in the 16th minute. Ashley Henderson drilled a ball in the top of the net from an Ai Kitagawa assist.
The Tigers stayed aggressive in the positional battle, pushing their backlines up and keeping the ball in Rice’s half of the field for the majority of the next 20 minutes, resulting in three shot attempts which all stayed out of the net.
As for Rice offensively, it was a struggle in the opening period. They only put three shots up all half and only one even had a chance of finding the back of the net, letting Memphis walk into halftime with a one goal advantage.
These offensive issues corrected themselves for the Owls quickly after halftime as Natalie Gorji headed a 56th minute corner kick right by a crowd of players to put the score tied at one. Henderson responded in kind for the Tigers ten minutes later with her second goal of the contest, putting Memphis back in the lead.
Rice would try to answer back, but the Memphis defense denied any such opportunity. The reigning AAC Champs inched downfield, and Momo Nakao put the dagger in the net from an assist by, who else, Ashley Henderson.
All efforts of an Owls comeback were snuffed out, only getting a single attempt after this goal. The Tigers ran out the clock and locked in their championship date with the Pirates of ECU.
