Aug. 23, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Squaring off against their alumni Saturday in preparation for the 2010 season, the University of Memphis men's soccer team earned a 3-0 victory. Redshirt freshman Mark Sherrod scored twice, while freshman Gordy Gurson also added a late second half goal for the U of M men's squad.

Around 40 former players, dating back to the program's beginning in 1982, participated in the contest for the alumni. Among them were former stars such as Andy Metcalf, Dayton O'Brien and Tripp Harkins.

"We had a fantastic turnout tonight," said Memphis head coach Richie Grant. "We restarted the alumni game last year and it grew this year. Lots of credit goes to our staff, which currently features two alumni, as well as Joey Lewis and Phil McDonnell for getting all this together."

In the weekend's penultimate event, the current squad showed why they were deserving of representing the U of M. After entering the match late in the first half, Sherrod scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, taking it unassisted in the 48th minute and sliding a cross from Cody McCoy past former teammate and last year's keeper, Michael Goodlett, for his second goal at the 52-minute mark.

Gurson and classmate Austin Gross hooked up in the 79th minute, with Gurson coming off the bench to beat the keeper for the goal.

In the ongoing battle to be keeper of the current squad, neither goalie was able to separate himself from the other. Freshman Martin Hunter, who started the match, had three saves in the first half. Sophomore Jordan Leedle, who relieved Hunter at halftime, had one stop in the second half.

Grant was pleased with his team's performance on the evening, and looks forward to Tuesday's exhibition match against Botafogo.

"We finally got going in the second half," said Grant. "I was disappointed in our finishing in the first half, but a lot of it was just our tiredness from camp. It (the match) was a lot of fun, just like the Botafogo match should be on Tuesday. We're really looking forward to it."