Oct. 12, 2008

Box Score

Rice Box Score PDF

Memphis, Tenn. - The Memphis women's soccer team took down the Rice Owls 1-0 Sunday at Mike Rose Soccer Complex. The noon start was scheduled because CBS College Sports was recording the contest which will be aired on Tuesday, Oct 14 at 6:00 p.m. The Lady Tigers move to 8-4-1 on the season and 4-2-0 in C-USA play. Rice drops to 7-6-1 on the season and 3-3 against C-USA teams.

"It was a huge win for us," Monaghan said of the 1-0 win. "Rice is a quality opponent and they are highly ranked in the RPI system. Getting this win helps us in a lot of ways and it allows us to be in a position to meet our goal to win conference."

Sophomore midfielder Vendula Strnadova scored her second game-winning goal of the weekend. With just under 20 minutes to play in the contest, Strnadova drove the ball down the center of the field and into the top of the box past a defender. She beat the approaching goalkeeper to net her fourth score of 2008.

"That was one for the highlight reel," said Monaghan on Strnadova's goal. "That was a fantastic goal and that's what she does so well is make runs at players."

Memphis freshman goalkeeper Jordan Boyle got the start today after she was a late scratch from Friday night's contest against Houston due to injury. She recorded her first shutout on the 1-0 win and tallied four saves in Sunday afternoon's contest. The Lady Tigers' other freshman keeper Nikki Unland stepped in and picked up her first shutout of her career on Friday night in place of the injured Memphis keepers.

"We started two true freshmen this weekend and both of them did really well," said Monaghan of the performances of his keepers. "That's a tough position to be in as true freshmen, but it makes us more comfortable while Elise (Kuhar-Pitters) is out right now. That's what you want when you make a substitution that you don't take a step back and they did that for us today."

The Lady Tigers hit the road next weekend for another pair of important C-USA matches. Friday, Oct. 17, Memphis heads into Dallas, Texas to take on the (5-7-1, 3-3-0 C-USA) SMU Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. Sunday's match pairs the Memphis squad against the (6-7-2, 1-3-1 C-USA) Golden Hurricane of Tulsa at 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 19.

"Right now we're just still taking it one game at a time, but I was really pleased with the overall team effort today and our mentality was spot on," said Monaghan. "We're getting the chances we want and hopefully they will fall sometime. Hopefully they will come next weekend."

The next Memphis home game marks the final home match for the senior class. Friday, Oct. 24 is "Senior Night" at Mike Rose Soccer Complex as the Lady Tigers face off against the Marshall Thundering Herd.