Memphis Unable to Rally at UCF

Thursday, October 8

Orlando, Fla.

6:00 PM CT

University of Memphis

7-4-2, 2-1-1

UCF

7-5-1, 2-3-0

Memphis

UCF

Photo by: Ashley Helliwell

Oct 08, 2015 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Elizabeth Woerner scored her fourth goal of the season in the loss

Memphis fell behind early and was unable to mount a comeback as the Tigers dropped their first American Athletic Conference match of the season, 3-1, to UCF Thursday at the UCF Track and Soccer Complex. The road trip continues for the Tigers (7-4-2, 2-1-1) as they will play at USF Sunday at 12:00 p.m.

"We weren't sharp and I think we got outplayed tonight. The team that deserved to win, did," Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan said. "They showed that they wanted it more and they punished our mistakes. They played like it was do or die and we just kind of showed up to play. We got outworked tonight."

Junior forward Carol Rodrigues managed to give UCF the lead after just six minutes played before she then doubled the lead 10 minutes later.

With the Tigers in an early hole, freshman midfielder Elizabeth Woerner scored her fourth goal of the season to provide a lifeline. Fellow freshman Olivia Gauthier assisted on the goal.

Memphis battled but couldn't manage to get an equalizer and the Knights put the game away with a goal in the 86^th minute.

"We bounced back and we felt like we were ok because it was 2-1 at halftime. We talked to them at halftime and usually we get a positive reaction but I think it was a bit stale. When you are up against a team that has that do or die mentality you better be able to match it," said Monaghan.

USF beat Tulsa, 1-0, Thursday night to improve to 4-1 in conference play and move into first place in the league standings.