Memphis Starts Conference Play with a Win

Thursday, September 29

Philadelphia, Pa.

2:30 PM

University of Memphis

7-2-1

Temple

3-8

Memphis

Temple University

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Sep 29, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Jessica Lisi scored to give the Tigers a 1-0 win at Temple

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Jessica Lisi scored in the 57^th minute to give Memphis a 1-0 win over Temple in the American Athletic Conference opener Thursday afternoon at the Temple Sports Complex. Memphis improves to 7-2-1 and starts league play 1-0 with No. 21 UConn up next.

"It was windy, rainy and pretty chilly and sometimes when you play in those conditions the game can get really ugly. But we continued to play our style of soccer," Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan said. "A win is a win. I thought we did some very good things today. The big thing that I told the kids is that we should have put away several chances and put the game out of reach. But it's not easy to win especially in this conference so I'm happy with that.

The Tigers had numerous scoring chances during the match, but the one goal was enough to seal the win. Memphis outshot Temple 26-4 and the Tigers' had seven corner kicks to the Owls' one.

The Tigers dominated possession throughout the match before Lisi finally broke the deadlock in the 57^th minute with her second career goal. Fellow freshman midfielder Serena Dolan made a great run and pass to Valerie Sanderson, who laid the ball off to Lisi in the box.

The goal came just moments after Elizabeth Woerner had hit the crossbar with a header on the Tigers' 15^th shot of the match

Lisi finished the match with seven total shots, six of which were on target. As a team the Tigers forced Temple goalkeeper Jordan Nash to make a career high 17 saves.

Memphis goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel was called on to make just two saves in the match, but came up huge in the closing minutes to keep the clean sheet. The shutout was Bard-Martel's fourth of the season and the 22^nd of her career.

The Tigers continue the road trip with a match at nationally-ranked UConn on Sunday at noon (CT) in Storrs.

"We know UConn is good and they have some strong returning players. We know we will have to get better with the end product going into Sunday," Monaghan said.

Memphis will come back home to play three straight conference matches at Mike Rose Soccer Complex, starting with East Carolina, Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. The Tigers will close out the home stand against Cincinnati, Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. and against Tulsa, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.