Aug. 27, 2008
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -
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Friday night's soccer match-up between the Memphis Tigers and the Preseason NSCAA No. 21 Bradley Braves will see two former Mayflower Conference foes face-off as coaches for the first time in the first game of the Memphis Diadora Tournament at 7:30 p.m., on Friday. The game will follow the women's game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at 5 p.m.
Richie Grant and Jim DeRose have faced each other as players before. Grant, a former defender at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., and DeRose, a former goalkeeper at Johnson State College in Johnson, Vt., competed against each other as conference rivals when Grant was a defender for the Eagles and DeRose was a goalkeeper for the Badgers.
"It is a pleasure to meet up with Jim as coaches after all of these years," Grant said. "Jimmy taught us a lot about what it took to win when we played against each other during our college soccer days. It is no surprise to me that he has a team that wins. It is interesting how his personality as a player is coming out in his team as a coach. What Bradley did last season is an inspiration to a program like ours that is aspiring to get to where Bradley was last year."
Grant and DeRose have made their way through the coaching ranks. Grant has been at Memphis for the last nine years where he has led the Tigers to a Top-25 ranking in each of his last four seasons. At Memphis, Grant has been named the C-USA Coach of the Year on two occasions, in 2000 and in 2004, when he led Memphis to the conference title. Grant was previously the head coach at Lambuth University at Jackson, Tenn. Prior to that he was an assistant at Bloomsburg University. DeRose has been at Bradley for 12 seasons. Last season he was named the Soccer America National Coach of the Year. During his stint at Bradley, the Braves have won four Missouri Valley Conference titles. Prior to Bradley, DeRose spent time as an assistant at Richmond and Illinois State.
"Richie was a great player at Green Mountain College and we played at two of the better schools in the region," said DeRose. "We both got into coaching and it has taken us this long to finally get the schedule to work out for this to happen. We are excited about playing there and we are excited about Memphis coming to Peoria to play in our tournament next year. It is going to be nice to look down the sideline and see Richie and know that we'll be playing against a team full of hard workers that we respect a lot. We are both very excited about it and I look forward to being able to catch up when it is all over."
DeRose helped lead the Bradley Braves to the NCAA College Cup quarterfinals last season. The Braves defeated their opponents from DePaul, No. 6 Indiana and No. 19 Maryland to make an improbable tournament run to face-off with the 10th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes,defeated the Braves, 4-0, in the quarterfinal match. Ohio State would go as far as the National Championship game where they lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Bradley finished their exhibition season with a mark of 1-1. In the first exhibition game of the season, The Braves took Wisconsin-Milwaukee into overtime, but they were defeated by the Panthers, 1-0. The Braves bounced back from the loss to defeat SIU-Edwardsville, 4-1.
Friday's match will be the first of the regular season for Memphis. The Tigers finished their exhibition slate last weekend with a 2-0 loss to No. 19 Saint Louis. Memphis held the Billikens scoreless for 62 minutes, but gave up two goals after that. In their first exhibition match, the Tigers defeated Christian Brothers University, 4-2.
Fans can catch five games at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex this weekend. The first game of the Memphis Diadora Tournament will pit Memphis' C-USA rival, UAB vs. the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at 3 p.m., on Friday. That game will be followed by the Lady Tigers' match-up against Alabama at 5 p.m., on Friday. Friday night's action will conclude with the men's match against the Braves at 7:30 p.m. Action will pick up again on Sunday with the third game of the Memphis Diadora Tournament where UAB will face Bradley at 3 p.m. Memphis will take on Oral Roberts in the final game of the tournament at 7:30 p.m., on Sunday.
Fans can purchase one ticket for all of Friday's games. Tickets will be $5. For Sunday's session, fans have to purchase a ticket for each individual game. Friday will be a Football Filled Weekend for the Memphis Tigers. Fans under the age of 12 receive free admission to Friday's games. The first 300 fans will receive football and soccer posters.
