Sept. 29, 2005

Tulane and UTEP Game Notes in PDF Format
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Tulane Game Program in PDF Format

Game #10 - Tulane (0-3-0) at Memphis (6-3-0)
Friday, September 30 • 7:00 p.m.
Mike Rose Soccer Complex (3,000) • Memphis, Tenn.

Game #11 - UTEP (11-0-0) at Memphis (6-3-0)
Sunday, October 2 • 1:00 p.m.
Mike Rose Soccer Complex (3,000) • Memphis, Tenn.

This Weekend
Conference play opens up for Memphis this weekend with home games against Tulane and UTEP. The Green Wave come to Memphis from their adopted home of College Station, Texas for the Conference USA opener on Friday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. Then, the first place and currently undefeated Miners take on the Tigers on Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 p.m. This will be the second straight year that Memphis has opened C-USA play at home.

Looking Ahead
The Tigers hit the road for their second conference weekend of the year as they travel to Greenville, N.C. for an afternoon game with East Carolina on Friday, October 7 at 3:00 p.m., central time. They then continue onto Huntington, W.Va. for a Sunday afternoon game at Conference USA newcomer Marshall on October 9 at 11:00 a.m. central time.

Series vs. Tulane
Memphis is 4-4-0 all-time against the Green Wave. The two teams did not meet last year, however Memphis has won the last two meetings, both by 4-0 scores in the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Tulane's last win in the series came in 2001, a 1-0 win in Memphis.

Series vs. UTEP
This will be the first-ever meeting between Memphis and UTEP, which is in its first year in Conference USA.

Scouting Tulane
Due to the logistical issues caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Green Wave have only been able to play three games so far this year and they are 0-3 in those games, losing to Alabama, Louisville, and Kennesaw State. They will be playing their first game in nearly a month on Friday night. Their last game was on September 4. They were scheduled to host Sam Houston State last week in College Station, their temporary home on the Texas A&M campus for the fall semester, but that game was cancelled due to the threat of Hurricane Rita. Through the three games, they have scored just two goals and allowed eight.

Scouting UTEP
The Miners, one of six newcomers to Conference USA, are a perfect 11-0 and sit in first place heading into Friday night's game at UAB. Eight of their 11 games have been at home and they have played outside the state of Texas just once so far. Sunday's game will be just their third outside the Lone Star State. UTEP is outscoring its opponents 36-9. Melissa Abraham leads the team with 10 goals and 22 points while Jami Tullius has eight goals and 17 points. Brittany Popoff has seen most of the minutes in goal and currently has a 0.61 goals against average.

The Coaches
Brooks Monaghan (Memphis, 1994) is in his sixth year as head coach at Memphis, where he holds a 45-55-5 career record. Prior to his tenure as head coach, he was the assistant coach in charge of goalkeepers for five years, serving since the program's inception in 1995. Just the second head coach in program history, Monaghan became the program's all-time winningest coach last year with his 35th career win.

Betsy Anderson (North Carolina State, 1995) is in her fifth season as head coach at Tulane. She has a career record of 33-38-7 in her five years at the New Orleans school. Prior to coming to Tulane, she was an assistant coach at both her alma mater as well as at American University. She led the Green Wave to their first winning season in school history in her first season at the helm.

Kevin Cross (Austin College, 1995) is in his fifth season as head at UTEP, where he holds a 54-27-3 career record. He has led the Miners to 40 wins over the past three years and three consecutive winning seasons for the first time in school history. His teams have made the semifinal round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament in each of the last three years and the Miners finished in second place in the WAC in both 2002 and last season.

Tigers Shut Out for First Time
Memphis was shut out for the first time this year by Southeast Missouri State on Sunday night in a 1-0 loss.

Tigers Debut in Soccer Buzz Regional Poll
For the second straight year, Memphis has been ranked in the Soccer Buzz Central Region poll. Last week marked the Tigers' debut in this year's poll at #15 in the Central Region. Despite the loss at SEMO, Memphis remained at #15 in this week's poll. The Tigers were ranked as high as 10th in last year's regional poll.

Hayes' Streak Ends
Freshman forward Kylie Hayes has her streak of six straight games with a goal scoring stopped in the loss at Southeast Missouri State. Though over, she made history by becoming the first player in school history to score a goal in both five and six straight games. The previous record for consecutive games with a goal was held by Meredith Smith, who scored in four straight games in 1996.

Hat Trick
In the 5-1 win over Middle Tennessee, junior forward Shoko Mikami recorded the first hat trick for Memphis since Jessica Gjertsen recorded one in the last game of the 2000 season.

Multiplying Multiples
Last year, Memphis individuals only recorded two multiple-goal matches the entire year. Shoko Mikami recorded a hat trick against Middle Tennessee, the fourth individual multiple-goal match this year. Listed below are the players that have recorded multiple-goal matches this year.

Name (Goals)	Opponent (Date)
Asuka Kubota (2)	Tenn. Tech (8-28)
Shoko Mikami (2)	Tenn. Tech (8-28)
Kylie Hayes (2)	Evansville (9-4)
Shoko Mikami (3)	Middle Tenn. (9-18)

Back-to-Back
Last year, Memphis individuals recorded goals in back-to-back games only three times. This year, through nine games, it has been done three times already. Shoko Mikami has done it twice while Kylie Hayes also has recorded goals in back-to-back games, in fact six straight games.

Dynamic Duo
So far this year, it is nearly a sure bet that either Kylie Hayes or Shoko Mikami or both will score a goal each game for the Tigers. At least one of them has recorded at least one goal in eight of the nine games so far this year and they have scored in the same game in five of the Tigers' nine games.

It's Alive
The Tigers have recorded at least one goal in 11 of their 18 halves of soccer played this year. Memphis already has scored 26 goals and recorded 25 assists and 77 points in just eight games. That is already respectively 93, 89, and 92 percent of last year's total as the Tigers recorded just 28 goals, 28 assists, and accumulated 84 points all of last year (19 games). This has all happened despite Memphis losing players that were responsible for 75 percent of last year's offense.

More Offensive Facts
- Last year, Memphis' top point producer had just 15 points all season long. This year, its point leader, Shoko Mikami, already has surpassed that with 20 points in eight games while Kylie Hayes has 19 points.

- Last year's top goal scorers on the team each had only six goals apiece. This year, Mikami has nine goals already and Hayes has scored eight goals all in just eight games.

Three Straight
Shoko Mikami became the second Memphis player this year to score a goal in three straight games, joining Kylie Hayes. She also became just the eighth player in school history to score a goal in three straight games. Listed below are the players in Tiger history that recorded goals in at least three straight games.

Name	Year
Shoko Mikami	2005
Kylie Hayes (6 straight)	2005
Alison Baker	2002
Alison Baker	2001
Becca Amrozowicz	1999
Jennifer Vossen	1996
Christy Caswell	1996
Meredith Smith (4 straight)	1996

Third Time the Charm
Earlier this year, Caroline Barrett had equaled her goal total from last year by scoring both of her first two goals in exactly the same games as last year, the first and fifth games. Last year, unfortunately, she did not score any more goals the rest of the season last year, partially due to being hampered by injuries. However, in Memphis' seventh game this year, Barrett surpassed her goal total from last year by scoring her third goal.

Caroline Barrett - Goals
	2004	2005
Goal #1	1st game	1st game
Goal #2	5th game	5th game
Goal #3	N/A	7th game

Home Shutout Streak
Memphis' streak of four straight home shutouts ended in the 3-2 loss to Ole Miss. The streak of minutes without allowing a goal at home also ended at 451:08.

Stingy Second Halves
Despite the home shutout streak ending, Memphis has found another area in which its defense has been stingy. That area is the second half of games. The Tigers have given up just two goals in the second half this year through nine games. In both games in which they gave up second half goals, they won, defeating Evansville and Middle Tennessee.

Briones Named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week
Sophomore goalkeeper Isabel Briones had what was probably the best week of her still relatively young collegiate career as Memphis beat UT-Martin and Missouri State and for her efforts was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week. Briones, who is in her third year at Memphis after redshirting as a freshman and only appearing in five games last year, recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time in her career with wins over Skyhawks and Bears. They were the third and fourth respective shutouts of her career. Briones has also already logged more time in goal this year than last year, having played just 365:30 in 2004 and already having played all 829:16 in goal this year.

Close Together
Memphis' second and third goals against UT-Martin were scored just :15 seconds apart. Last year, the least amount of time in between goals was 2:20 between goals by Madison Cheek and Caroline Barrett against Alabama A&M.

Everybody (New) Scores
Through the first nine games this year, Memphis has had at least one player record her first career point in four of those nine games. Listed below are the games and the individuals that recorded their first career points in those games.

Tennessee Tech
Kylie Hayes (Goal)
Asuka Kubota (Goal)
Kate Murphy (Assist)
Isabel Briones (Assist)
Sarah MacGregor (Assist)

Evansville
Alexandra Atkinson (Assist)

UT-Martin
Lindsey Joseph (Assist)
Emiko Schwab (Assist)

Missouri State
Katy Booth (Assist)
Lauren Everhart (Assist)

Now That's Efficiency
Not only did freshman Sarah MacGregor record her first career point by assisting on Asuka Kubota's first Memphis goal against Tennessee Tech, but she also recorded the assist just :29 seconds after entering the game as a substitute.

Now That's Really Efficient
Freshman Lauren Everhart topped MacGregor's feat by recording her first career point just :10 seconds after entering the game against Missouri State. She stole a goal kick by MSU's goalie and dished to Shoko Mikami for a goal and her first career assist.
Still, neither topped last year's quickest point, which went to Elaine Sedgewick, who assisted on a Mary Shelton goal just :06 seconds after entering the game in Memphis' 5-1 win over Charlotte on October 8th.

Neutral Success
The win over Evansville was Memphis' first win on a neutral field since the 1997 season and the first ever win in program history on a neutral field during the regular season. Memphis' only two previous wins on neutral fields came in the 1996 and 1997 seasons and both were Conference USA Tournament games. The Tigers now have a 3-5-1 all-time record on neutral fields.

Mikami Surpasses 2004 in One Game
Shoko Mikami, who led the nation in scoring in Division II while playing at Christian Brothers University two years ago, surpassed both her point and goal totals from last year in just one game by scoring two goals and recording one assist for five points against Tennessee Tech. She had just three points (1g, 1a) last year while playing in just 11 games after recovering from a knee injury for much of the first half of the season.

Long Time Coming
The seven goals scored by Memphis against Tennessee Tech were the most since a 9-0 win over Rhodes on September 1, 1999, which was also the season opener that year. The seven-goal margin of victory was also the most since that same game.

Another Shutout
For the second straight year, Memphis recorded a shutout on opening day. It was also the fourth time in school history that the Tigers won in a shutout on opening day.

Goalie Helps Out
Goalkeeper Isabel Briones did something against Tennessee Tech that rarely happens for a goalie, and it was just the second time in Memphis women's soccer history that it happened. She recorded an assist. She assisted on Shoko Mikami's second goal of the day by punting the ball well beyond midfield after making a save. The punt was played out of the air by Kylie Hayes, who dribbled with it before dishing to Mikami for the score. The only other time in program history that a goalie recorded a point was when goalkeeper Heather Chinellato recorded an assist during the 1998 season.

Recruiting Class Ranked Highest Ever at Memphis
The incoming recruiting class of this year, consisting of 14 freshman and one sophomore transfer, was ranked 27th in the country by Soccer Buzz, the highest ever ranking for Memphis. The Tiger newcomers were the highest ranked team in Conference USA in the rankings and they were also ranked eighth in the Central Region. Below is a list of how other C-USA teams ranked in the national rankings, followed by teams that were ranked in their region.

National
27. Memphis
42. Rice
44. UCF
70. SMU
72. Tulane
76. UAB
96. UTEP

Regional
8. Memphis (Central)
8. UCF (Southeast)
13. Rice (Central)
13. UAB (Southeast)
17. SMU (Central)
19. Tulane (Central)
23. UTEP (Central)
23. East Carolina (Southeast)

From National Team to Memphis
Three newcomers on the Tigers have come to Memphis with national team experience for their respective countries. Sophomore Asuka Kubota played on the Japanese Under-19 National Team, freshman Joanna Alexopulos played for the Canadian Under-17 National Team, while freshman Aika Young is a member of the Guam National Team.

W-League Experience
Freshman Joanna Alexopulos spent her summer playing with Toronto Lynx of the W-League. The W-League is part of the United Soccer Leagues, which is the largest organization of soccer leagues in North America. The USL sponsors both professional and amateur leagues in both the U.S. and Canada. The W-League is now recognized as the highest level of women's soccer in North America due to the WUSA folding a few years ago. Alexopulos saw action in 12 games for the Lynx, whose roster also included former Tiger Yuiko Konno.

All-Americans
Two members of the Tiger roster were named All-Americans at their previous school. Sophomore transfer Asuka Kubota was an NAIA All-American at Martin Methodist College last year while freshman Chloe James was a high school All-American as a senior at Roger Bacon High in the Cincinnati area.

Alaskan Pipeline to Memphis
Memphis has a very diverse roster, boasting representatives from 10 states and five countries. One of the more unique things about the Lady Tigers is that two members hail from the State of Alaska, which is remarkable considering that Memphis is over 4,000 miles from Anchorage, where both sophomore Halley Jo Sullivan and freshman Kate Murphy hail from. According to research conducted by Matt Beltz of the Memphis athletic media relations office, Memphis is one of only three Division I women's soccer teams in the country that have at least two players from Alaska on its roster. The only other teams in the country that have as many players from Alaska as Memphis are Montana and Valparaiso, which both have three players each from The Last Frontier.

From All Corners of the World
For the second straight year, the Memphis roster has representatives from a number of different states and countries. Last year, the Tigers had players from 12 different states and five different countries on their roster and 40 percent of the roster was made up of foreign players. This year, Memphis has representatives from 10 different states and five different countries and just over 30 percent of the roster is made up of foreign players.

Mike Rose is Home Once Again
For the second straight year, the women's soccer program will play all of its home games at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. Last year was the first year that all home games were played there after only playing conference games there for the previous two years.