Tigers drop second match at SIU-Edwardsville Tournament

Sunday, September 26

Edwardsville, Ill.

2:30 PM

University of Memphis

2-5

SIUE

4-4

MEM

SIUE

Junior Cody McCoy was one of two Tigers named all-tournament

Tigers drop second match at SIU-Edwardsville Tournament

Sep 26, 2010 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Sept. 26, 2010

Final Stats

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Memphis men’s soccer team dropped its second match of the SIU-Edwardsville Tournament, falling to the host Cougars, 2-1.

Redshirt freshman Mark Sherrod scored his first career goal in a Memphis uniform, but it came in the 81st minute with the Tigers already trailing by two goals.

The Cougars would hang on for the victory despite a flurry of late shots; SIU-Edwardsville keeper Nick Collico pulled two late saves out of the air to preserve the victory for the Cougars.

Memphis dominated shooting in both periods, doubling up the Cougars total of seven by firing 14 shots as a team, including seven on net. Sherrod and sophomore Andreas Guentner each had two shots on target for the Tigers.

The host Cougars used their bench to great affect against Memphis, scoring both times via a bench player. In the 39th minute, Jordan Barnes took a header at the near post off a corner kick from Jack Twellman and put it past Memphis sophomore Jordan Leedle, who was making his first start in the last two matches, for a 1-0 lead.

“The first goal was disappointing, it was a very soft goal,” said head coach Richie Grant. “We had our chances and missed, but then to give up an easy one on the other end is disheartening.”

The two teams were stagnant offensively for the next forty minutes, shooting only nine times combined. In the 79th minute, however, Jared Tejada took a cross from Benny Jeffery right in front of the net and fired the ball home.

Two minutes later, Sherrod got the Tigers first tally of the night, but by then it was too late.

“We showed some good fight to get back into the match,” said Grant. “We had a couple of late chances to tie that we’ll need to take advantage of.”

After a two-match hiatus, Leedle returned in net, stopping one shot in the loss; he falls to 2-3-0 for the season.

“Leedle looked good,” said Grant. “The goals (allowed) were due to soft defending from everyone, but he’s still disappointed to concede two.”

Freshman Will Garcia picked up his first career yellow card in the 11th minute on a late slide tackle.

Following the Sunday matches, senior defender Rory O’Connor and junior midfielder Cody McCoy were named to the all-tournament squad. For O’Connor, it’s his second such distinction this season after being named all-tournament at the UAB “Soccer for a Cure” Classic, while McCoy is an all-tournament honoree for the second time in his career; the first was at the Smith Barney/Nike Soccer Classic in Burlington, Vt. as a freshman.

The Tigers now have six days to prepare for rival Tulsa, their second match in Conference USA play. Tulsa entered this weekend ranked second in the country, but lost to No. 1-ranked Akron, 4-0, Friday.