Aug. 10, 2012

Box Score

Box Score

NORMAL, Ill. -The Memphis Lady Tigers ended their first exhibition game of the season in a 1-1 draw against the Illinois State Redbirds on Friday afternoon.

"I thought this was a decent performance for our first time out," head coach Brooks Monaghan said. "We have to be realistic with the group we have right now. We're missing some players due to the World Cup and six of the 11 we started with don't have much experience."

"Taking all of that into account, I thought we did some good things today," Monaghan said."We created some good chances, but we've got to do a better job finishing. We saw a lot of positives and have plenty to build on. This is a different team than last year and we have a lot of teaching to do."  

Just over five minutes into the game, freshman goalkeeper Becca Brownwas tested with a strike from Illinois State's Aimee Wronski. A few minutes later, Memphis was whistled for a foul just outside the penalty area. Illinois State sent in a low, cross into the middle of the field, but Brown corralled the ball and kept the Redbirds off the board.

Illinois State took the lead in the 13th minute off a free kick from the right side. The kick by Kristen Cooley was sent into the box where Rachel Bostick was able to get a header off and sneak the goal in by the left post.

At the 72 minute mark, freshman midfielder Marissa Duguay leveled the match with a header off a corner kick. Freshman Emily Adamic earned the assist off Duguay's tally.

With just a few minutes remaining, Wronski sent the ball right on goal but it was saved by Brown to keep the score even. Brown finished the game with seven saves, while playing all 90 minutes.

Memphis outshot the Redbirds 15-10, placing 12 of those shots on goal. Redshirt freshman Sarah Daane and senior Taylor Isenhower led the team with three shots apiece. For the Tigers, 10 freshmen saw action today with six in the starting lineup.

"We have to take the positives from today and improve on them come Sunday," Monaghan said. "We want to keep taking strides in right direction. The players are working hard and today was our first true evaluation. Some players, played really well while others didn't have their best performance. We just hope to continue to getting better and Sunday will help us get there." 

Memphis will host Western Kentucky on Sunday, August 12 at 1 p.m. at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex for the team's second exhibition game of the season. Admission will be FREE to the game. The Lady Tigers' season opener will take place Friday, August 17 against Missouri in Columbia, Mo.