Memphis and Cincinnati Split Points in Six-Goal Thriller

Wednesday, October 21

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:00 PM CT

University of Memphis

3-7-4, 1-2-3AAC

Cincinnati

7-6-3, 1-2-3AAC

OT 3

OT 4

Memphis

Cincinnati

Photo by: Don Claussen

Memphis and Cincinnati Split Points in Six-Goal Thriller

Oct 21, 2015 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Vargas, Klemm and Gonzalez score for Tigers

Memphis and Cincinnati went into Wednesday's match tied in the American Athletic Conference standings and after a 3-3 draw Wednesday night at Gettler Stadium the teams will stay tied. The six-goal, double-overtime match also saw a player from each team receive a red card in the first half.

"It was a roller coaster of a game. We had a dream start going up 2-0 and playing really well. Cincinnati was able to tie it up, which was disappointing because you never want to give up a two-goal lead," Memphis head coach Richard Mulrooney said. "We gave up the goal five minutes into the second half and we've done that before and weren't able to recover. To come back and tie it up almost felt like winning the game."

The Tigers and Bearcats played a wild first half that saw a combined four goals and two players sent off. The two teams were tied 2-2 and forced to play with 10-men the rest of the way.

Memphis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with Julio Vargas scoring his first career goal, heading the ball into the net after a cross from Josh Burnett. Chandler Klemm doubled the Tigers' lead with his second goal of the season, on an assist by Raul Gonzalez.

The Bearcats fought back though and were able to score twice to tie the match up before halftime.

Emotions got the best of the players on the field and both Josh Burnett and Cincinnati's Terence Carter were both issued red cards after a scuffle.

Cincinnati grabbed its first lead of the match shortly after halftime. A corner kick was headed towards the goal and saved off of the line by a Memphis defender but the ball wasn't cleared and the Bearcats headed the ball into the net.

Raul Gonzalez had an answer just seconds later with a brilliantly taken direct free kick. He curled the ball over the wall and into the top corner just out of the reach of the Bearcats' goalkeeper.

"He (Raul Gonzalez) is a handful for other teams. He has such individual ability that teams have to pay attention to him. He showed he can hit a free kick and had good service from corner kicks. His dribbling ability and awareness is second to none," said Mulrooney.

Memphis will travel to Orlando, Fla. to take on UCF in the final regular-season road match. The Tigers and Knights will play Saturday at 6:00 p.m.