April 3, 2007

MEMPHIS - The Memphis women's soccer team is coming off of a busy week of spring competition that saw the Lady Tigers pick up blowout wins over Irish team Colaiste Ide and West Florida and battle a tough Oklahoma State squad in a 3-1 loss.

The Lady Tigers topped Colaiste Ide in an exhibition at Mike Rose Soccer Complex on Wednesday, winning by a decisive 7-1 margin. Memphis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the match, but head coach Brooks Monaghan was displeased with his team's effort for the remainder of the half.

"We scored so quickly, and then I felt like we got complacent for the rest of the half," Monaghan said. "I talked to the players at halftime, and I think we responded with a lot more energy in the second half."

Memphis was led by Harumi Someya, who scored two goals. Eliza Wellford, Maiko Higashiyama, Elaine Sedgewick, Brittany Baldwin and Emiko Schwab each chipped in one goal apiece.

On Saturday the Lady Tigers traveled to Decatur, Ala. for scrimmages with Oklahoma State and West Florida. Memphis fell to OSU 3-1 but responded with a 7-2 victory over West Florida in its latter match.

Oklahoma State finished 2007 ranked in the top-10 in the nation and returns All-American Yolanda Odenyo. Despite the talented opposition, Memphis battled the Cowgirls to a scoreless first half and took the lead early in the second period on a goal from Schwab.

Unfortunately, the Lady Tigers were unable to sustain the momentum and three costly errors at the end of the match resulted in three scores for Oklahoma State.

"We knew that it was going to be a great opportunity to battle a top-10 team," Monaghan said. "The first half was very even. We created some good opportunities and felt good at halftime. In the second half we got a great score for Emiko.

"After that we got lackadaisical again, and Oklahoma State took advantage. Overall, we played well, but we made three critical mistakes. You can't do that against really good teams."

After talking to his team following the first match, Monaghan was satisfied with the way Memphis came out against West Florida. The Lady Tigers put up three goals in the first 10 minutes in route to the 7-2 win. Victoria Dalton and Kylie Hayes led the way for Memphis with two goals each.

"I was happy with the way we responded," Monaghan said. "I told them that our performance in the first match was unacceptable, and we came out and really dominated the match against West Florida."

Memphis will be in action next weekend when it faces cross-town rivals Christian Brothers and Rhodes College on Saturday, April 14.