Oct. 10, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis men's soccer team will continue its three game road trip when they head to Miami, Fla., to face conference foe Florida International on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (CST) at University Park.

"When we started on this trip we knew the importance of the conference game against Florida International," said Head Coach Richie Grant. "We saw that FIU had a good win against UCF last night. It is important that we get some treatment for our injuries going into the game on Sunday so we have a little bit more depth. I feel like we are playing some good soccer right now and I really think we are starting to hit our peak performance."

The U of M arrives at Miami with a record of 3-8-0 and a 1-2 mark in conference play. The Tigers are coming off of a 1-0 loss to No. 3 Creighton on Wednesday in Omaha. Memphis hopes to have Michael Coburn and Brian Farrell back for the game against the Golden Panthers. Both players missed the Creighton game with injuries suffered prior to the game. Coburn, a senior defender from Dundalk, Ireland, was named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Coburn played the role of hero in the Tigers' upset over No. 15 SMU last Sunday. The senior headed in the game winner off of a Sean Goulding free kick in the third minute of the first overtime period at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

Parker Duncan, a freshman forward from Johnson City, Tenn., earned his second start of the season on Wednesday against Creighton. Duncan got the nod at forward after a stellar performance against SMU where he helped set the pace for the Tigers. It was a foul committed by SMU's defender against Duncan that set up Goulding's free kick to set up Coburn for the game winning goal.

Michael Goodlett, the U of M's goalie, comes into the game boasting a 1.39 goals against average. The junior from Bolton, Miss., has 45 saves on the year.

FIU enters Sunday's match with a mark of 2-6-2. They are coming off of 2-1 win over UCF on Wednesday. UCF was ranked as the No. 9 team in the South Region according to the NSCAA at the time of the match. FIU has also played the likes of No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 16 North Carolina. They tied UMKC who defeated No. 3 Creighton earlier in the season.

The Golden Panthers are led by C-USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Juan Guerra. Guerra, a junior midfielder from Caracas, Venezuela, was a First Team All-C-USA midfielder last season for FIU. Guerra comes into the match with five goals and two assists for a total of 12 points on the year.

FIU is coached by Munga Eketebi. Eketebi is in his second season as the head coach for the Golden Panthers.

Memphis is 1-2 in matches against FIU. In their last match in Miami, the Tigers lost 2-0 to the Golden Panthers.

The Tigers next match will be on Friday, Oct. 17 against the South Carolina Gamecocks.