Oct. 19, 2005

Box Score

Greenville, N.C. - Candace Halvorson headed in the game-tying goal off a corner kick with five seconds remaining in regulation and then Shoko Mikami flicked in the game-winner in overtime as the Memphis women's soccer team escaped Greenville with a miraculous 2-1 win over East Carolina on Wednesday afternoon. The game was rescheduled from October 7 due to rain.

The win is Memphis' first overtime win since the final regular season game last year against Cincinnati and it improves the Tigers' record to 10-4-0 overall and 4-1-0 in Conference USA play. The Tigers are now in a three-way tie for second place in C-USA with SMU and UCF at 4-1 with eight points. UTEP is currently in first but has played one more game than theo ther three teams and has a 4-1-1 record and nine points. The Tigers meet UCF on Friday.

East Carolina dominated play in the first half, outshooting Memphis 9-1, but was unable to score. After the scoreless first half, the Pirates got on the scoreboard first at the 57:37 mark when Tara Shaw placed a crossing pass from Sarah Biggar into the lower left corner of the goal for a 1-0 ECU lead.

With under five minutes remaining, Memphis coach Brooks Monaghan began substituting at every Tiger throw-in in order to stop the clock, as NCAA rules stipulate that the clock stops on every substitution under five minutes in the second half. The strategy paid off as with under 20 seconds left, the Tigers were awarded a corner kick. Mikami took the kick and Halvorson headed the ball through the pipes for her first goal of the season. It was the fifth assist of the season for Mikami.

Then, a little more than three minutes into the first overtime, Asuka Kubota passed the ball from midfield onto the Pirates' end of the field to a running Mikami. However, the ball landed behind her. Therefore, from the top of the penalty box area, she flicked the ball with her heel and put it over the head of Pirate keeper Amber Campbell for the game-winner, her team-leading 14th goal of the year and her fourth game-winning goal. It was Kubota's team-leading seventh assist of the year.

"We weren't playing good soccer today, especially in the first half. Our passing was off, our runs were off, and we weren't playing well as a team or individually," said Monaghan. "Isabel Briones is the only player that had a good game. No one had a strong game except her."

Briones made nine saves in goal for the second straight game to keep the Tigers in the game, as the Pirates outshot Memphis 13-8. Five of those saves came in the first half. The win is her ninth of the year, which places her tied for second place in school history for goalkeeper wins in a single season.

"Hopefully we'll learn a lesson from this. It isn't very often that we get to learn a lesson like this one and still win the game. The positive thing out of this is that we never gave up, especially at the end, and were therefore in position to tie and then win it at the end," said Monaghan. "To be honest, East Carolina deserved to win the game and probably should have. But we got lucky enough to win."

The Tigers will now return home for two games this weekend that will close out their regular season home schedule at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. Memphis takes on UCF, who is one of the teams they are tied for second place with, on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Southern Miss then comes to town on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. for the home finale. The game on Sunday will be followed by Senior Day.

Postgame Notes: The win to move Memphis' record to 10-4 now equals the best record in school history through 14 games, which was set last year ... With a win over UCF on Friday, Memphis can set a record for the best 15-game record in school history and can also equal the record for most wins in a season, which was set last year and in 1997 with 11 wins ... Kubota's assist was her seventh of the year, which surpasses the six assists that Vicki Greenwell led the Tigers with last year ... Halvorson's goal was her first of the season and just the second of her career. Her only other goal came last year, also in the month of October and also against a school from North Carolina (Charlotte) ... With her goal today, Halvorson became the 18th different player to record a point this year and the 10th different player to score a goal ... Mikami's 33 points this year place her second in school history behind only Jessica Gjertsen's 40 points in 2000 for points in a season ... Her 14 goals are also second to Gjertsen's 18 goals in 2000 for most goals in a season ... Briones is just one win shy of tying the school record for most goalkeeper wins in a season, which is 10 and was set by Natalie Haerens last year ... Memphis has now won back-to-back road games for only the second time in school history. The first was last year, when the Tigers won their first three road games of the year ... The Tigers have also now won three straight games for the second time this year. Memphis has never won more than three games in a row in program history and will look to change that on Friday vs. UCF.