University of Memphis Athletics
Lady Tigers Enter Homestretch of C-USA Games at SMU
Oct 16, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 16, 2008
MEMPHIS, TENN. - The Memphis women's soccer team is set to face off against the SMU Mustangs on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m. in Dallas, Texas. The Lady Tigers enter the weekend with a (8-4-1) regular season record and are (4-2-1) against C-USA opponents. Memphis currently sits in a second place tie with Colorado College in the conference standings.
"The girls are really excited," said head coach Brooks Monaghan about Friday's C-USA contest against SMU. "They know that at lot lies in front of them and they know that they have a really tough test in SMU."
Last week, the Memphis team was able to grabbed two 1-0 victories over Houston and Rice. Sophomore midfielder Vendula Strnadova netted both game winners for the Lady Tigers. The defense held tough notching two shutouts with the strong play of sophomore defender Kelsey Bakker in the backfield. For her contributions to the shutouts she was awarded C-USA Defensive Player of the Week.
"SMU is a very young team, but at the same time, they are definitely a very talented group as well," said Monaghan. "We're going to have our hands full."
The (5-8-1, 3-3 C-USA) Mustangs are coming off a split weekend with a 3-2 victory over Marshall on Friday night and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of C-USA standings leader East Carolina on Sunday.
"Like I've stated before, on any given day, any team can win in this conference," said Monaghan on the parody of the C-USA competition level. "The whole weekend we have to be prepared, both physically and mentally. I feel good about our girls right now. I think our kids can perform on the road and we're going for two this weekend."
With three remaining weeks in the 2008 season, the Memphis squad is looking to put all the pieces together leading into the C-USA Tournament at Rice University, running from Nov. 5-9.
"I know our girls are excited," said Monaghan on his team's place in the C-USA standings. "We control our own destiny. Our goal is to win this conference and we're still taking it one game at a time."
The Lady Tigers have only five games remaining including Friday's game against SMU. One of those is at the C-USA standings leader East Carolina. The last home game for Memphis is against Marshall on Friday, Oct. 24 at 6:00 p.m. at Mike Rose Soccer Complex. This game marks "Senior Night" and the four seniors on the Memphis squad Kylie Hayes, Maggie Leone, Kate Murphy, and Emiko Schwab will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
