Tigers Win on Second-Half Goals

Sunday, October 23

Houston, Texas

1:00 PM

University of Memphis

12-3-1 (6-1)

Houston

6-6-3 (1-5-2)

Memphis

Houston

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Oct 23, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Miranda Smith and Valerie Sanderson scored for Memphis

HOUSTON, Texas – Memphis scored two second-half goals to take down Houston, 2-0, and finish an undefeated weekend trip to Texas. The Tigers (12-3-1, 6-1 AAC) head into the final weekend of the regular season in second place in the American Athletic Conference standings and will host USF, Thursday at 7 p.m., and UCF, Sunday at noon.

"Today was a grind. It wasn't one of our best performances," Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan said. "We were proud that they found a way. It is not the easiest atmosphere to play in but they found a way to get it done. It's not easy to win in this league so you take it and move on to the next."

After a scoreless first half that saw Memphis outshoot Houston 8-2, Miranda Smith put the Tigers in the lead with her first career goal. The junior midfielder scored from a corner kick taken by Jessica Lisi.

Minutes later Houston had the ball in the back of the net for an equalizer, but a player was ruled offside and the goal was wiped off the board.

Senior Valerie Sanderson made the lead 2-0 in the 63^rd minute with a great solo goal. She took a pass from Serena Dolan, ran past several Houston defenders and blasted a shot into the roof of the net.

Houston had another chance to get on the board when Kristina Schulz smashed a direct free kick off of the crossbar in the 67^th minute.

For the match, Memphis outshot Houston 16-5 and the Tigers had five corner kicks to the Cougars two.

Goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel made just one save in the match but it was clutch save in the opening minutes to keep the match scoreless. The shutout was her sixth of the season and the 24^th of her career.

"We will enjoy this one tonight and then it's all focus on USF. We have our hands full next weekend and we know that. We know that we will have to play two matches at our best to give ourselves a chance to win," Monaghan said.

Memphis will be playing for one of the top two seeds in the American Athletic Conference tournament, which runs Nov. 2-6 at the host of the league's top seed. The Tigers are currently one point behind UConn with two matches left for each team.