University of Memphis Athletics
The Puzzle of Progress: Women's Soccer Year in Review
Dec 16, 2024 | Women's Soccer
In the winter of 2023, as the page turned from one soccer season to the next, the Memphis women's soccer coaching staff had some real puzzles to solve. Â
Most years – at least since head coach Brooks Monaghan took over in 2000 – see some turnover, with a few different pieces that will need replacing for the new season. For the first time in his 24 years at the helm, they were looking at a whole new picture.Â
The corner pieces – Mya Jones, Saorla Miller, Haylee Spray and Grace Stordy – gave the Tigers a combined 26,708 minutes over the five seasons prior but were moving on to play at the professional level. The team was losing not only All-American level talent but large parts of their identity.Â
Still, no one outside the building seemed to lose any regard. When you win four conference titles and make two Sweet Sixteens in three seasons, greatness is expected year over year. So a new crop of Tigers, ranked No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll, were tasked with upholding a standard that was set for them years before most of them even came to Memphis.Â
"Every team is different in some way or another, but this year was a new generational team," said Monaghan. "We'd never had to replace to this degree. When the first rankings come out, we had to make sure the team knew they had to go out and re-earn everything, because the number doesn't mean anything in August."Â
They were up to the task. They went to Columbia, Missouri, and won. They went to Oxford, Mississippi, and won. They went to Tampa, Florida, with the heat index nearing 100 degrees, and beat a conference rival. For a three-week stretch of the season, they owned the country's longest winning streak in both home and road games. Their home winning streak reached 17 wins, only the second time any D-I team has hit that mark in the 2020s.Â
This new generation of Tigers wasn't short on leadership, highlighted by a senior class that took many different paths to Memphis. Â
The impact of their stories was on display with transfers like Camber Hayes and Maddie Eskin, who had obtained degrees at other programs, sought new challenges and turned themselves into consistent starters at Memphis. With returners like Sarah Hagg and Kaylie Bierman, who had seen both sides of a starting line-up and knew exactly what it took to earn minutes. With four-year Tigers like Momo Nakao and Anne-Valerie Seto, whose growth was seen not only on the pitch but in the locker room and on the training ground as leaders.Â
Their maps to the 901 look wildly different on paper, stretching three continents and beginning in three separate calendar years. But their journeys converged in Memphis with a common theme: a willingness to sacrifice personal gain for the good of a greater cause, a bigger picture that you don't even get to see in its entirety until you're done placing every piece. The group, along with countless others in the team, decided that Memphis was not a program that was done striving for new heights.Â
For a second consecutive year, they went unbeaten at home and unbeaten in conference play, securing back-to-back regular season titles which had only been done once in the program's storied history (2007, 2008).Â
Their 13-2-4 record was among the best in the country, with two 1-0 losses decided by a few spins of the ball. In a sport as binary as soccer, that can be the margin between an early postseason exit and a truly historical season.Â
After 19 games in 88 days, players and staff alike will take a well-deserved break and unwind from the season that was, one that saw the program's 15th conference championship. But next season is already on the minds of Monaghan and company.Â
"In our eyes, it's way less of a 'rebuilding' year than last year was," said the head coach on what will be his 26th season. "At the end of the day, it comes down to trust. We told the girls, it's our job as coaches to put the plan in place, and we feel like we've done that. If everybody does their part we are going to be in a good place."Â
There will always be more puzzles to solve, and more talented players to replace. More talent is sure to come in, with 12 freshmen already signed on to the 2025 class. But maybe the most important pieces aren't individuals. Maybe the cornerstones of their success are the commitment the student-athletes make; the willingness to wake up and improve; the drive towards heights still not fully seen.Â
Maybe the Memphis women's soccer program isn't looking to stand on the shoulders of its predecessors, successful as they may have been. Maybe they are looking to plant seeds, to water soil, and to continue to rise organically.Â
