Battle of Unbeaten Teams Wednesday at Mike Rose

Wednesday, October 7

Memphis, Tenn.

7:00 PM CT

University of Memphis

SMU

Tickets

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Oct 06, 2015 | Men's Soccer

Memphis and SMU will play to stay undefeated in league play

WHAT: Match 10
WHO: SMU at Memphis
WHEN: 7 p.m. CT, Oct. 7, 2015
WATCH: Memphis Tiger Network
STATS: StatBroadcast
TWITTER: @MemphisMSoccer

WHAT: Match 11
WHO: Memphis at Temple
WHEN: 1:00 p.m. CT, Oct. 10, 2015
WATCH: OwlsTV
STATS: Live Stats
TWITTER: @MemphisMSoccer

Following a dramatic overtime win at UConn last week, Memphis will host fellow unbeaten team, SMU Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at Mike Rose Soccer Complex. The Mustangs are one of two teams with a 2-0 record in American Athletic Conference play, while the Tigers are tied for third with a 1-0-1 record.

Memphis (2-5-2, 1-0-1 AAC) has rebounded from a tough start to claim wins its last two matches while remaining unbeaten in the last three. The Tigers played three ranked opponents in nonconference play sand five total teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season.

"Looking back at the schedule, with Saint Louis, Louisville, Kentucky, SIUE, all of those were tough games," head coach Richard Mulrooney said. "But the end of the day it did prepare us for the conference and we're starting to see that. The guys are starting to pick the confidence up from a couple of wins."

The Tigers have had an attacking resurgence in recent weeks and two players, Raul Gonzalez and Chandler Klemm, have made the largest impact.

Gonzalez scored his first goal of the season against UCF in the conference opener and followed that up with a hat trick in the win over Central Arkansas. Klemm assisted on the goal against UCF and then set up two of the three goals against UCA. The sophomore transfer then opened his account with an overtime game-winning goal at UConn.

"It was a team effort. As the game went on we gained more confidence and earlier in the year we were missing those one or two opportunities to get that goal. Chandler (Klemm) buried his chance in overtime and that's the difference between winning and losing," Mulrooney said.

Equally important have been the defensive performances, which earned recognition from the American Athletic Conference this week. Jake Leeker was named the league's goalkeeper of the week and Quincy Thomas earned defensive player of the week honors.

SMU (7-2-2, 2-0 AAC) has had a solid start to the season under first-year head coach Kevin Hudson. The Mustangs have wins over Tulsa and UCF in league play. Having played decidedly more games at home, SMU holds just a 1-1-1 record in road games.

Forward Mauro Cichero leads the team with six goals but the Mustangs have managed to score a league-leading 20 goals this season and nine different players have chipped in at least one goal.

The Mustangs aren't just focused on the offensive end though, as goalkeeper Michael Nelson's 35 saves are the second most in the league so far.

"We have a tough SMU team that is at the top of the conference coming in. We are looking for our first conference win at home and the boys are flying high after the past couple of weeks. The Mustangs are flying high as well, they are technically sound and they are physical," said Mulrooney.

After hosting SMU, Memphis will head back to the northeast for a match at Temple (7-2-2, 0-2 AAC) Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Ambler, Penn.

Much like SMU, Temple has seven wins overall this season, but unlike the Mustangs the Owls are winless so far in conference play. Unbeaten teams South Florida and Cincinnati have both beaten Temple in league games.

Midfielder Jorge Gomez Sanchez leads the American Conference with 11 goals and the Owls are tied with SMU with 20 total goals scored this season.

"The northeast treated us well last week so I'm hoping it does again. One win, as we know in conference play, can move you from second to last all the way up to second place. Every point is crucial in the league," Mulrooney said.

Memphis will follow up the trip to Temple by playing one last nonconference match, against Georgia State, October 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Mike Rose Soccer Complex.