As we previewed, Memphis Women’s Soccer would open their 2024 season, at home, on senior night, against Alabama A&M on Thursday night. With the 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs, the Tigers start 1-0 and head coach, Brooks Monaghan, now has 300 wins at Memphis. We will recap the opening win, look at what Monaghan would say on the historic night, and a small preview of what is next on the 2024 slate.
How Did Memphis Win?
The scoring was fast in this game. As we discussed, in the past six seasons the Tigers have won 87, now 88 games when scoring first. In these games, including Thursday’s win, Memphis has scored first in 80 games. This trend would continue as sophomore Ashley Henderson would put the ball in the back of the net at the 1:26 mark.
The sensational sophomore would score, six minutes later, on a Momo Nakao through ball to put Memphis up 2 goals to none. The barrage of goals would continue as the Tigers would see junior Izzy Monck add the third goal of the first half with a corner goal in the 19th minute. Memphis would see midfielder Nokao score her first goal of 2024, and 12th as a Tiger, in the 59th minute to put the hometown Tigers up 4-0.
While Alabama A&M would get on the scoreboard with their only shot of the contest. In the 75th minute, Chelsie Charles would score for the Bulldogs on a counterattack. The Tigers would score late in the match for the final of 5-1 in the opener.
Memphis would dominate the stats as they outshot the Bulldogs, 23-1, with 14 shots being on goal for the Tigers. The hometown Tigers would “corner” its competition as they finished with 15 compared to one from Alabama A&M. The Bulldogs would lead the saves category with 11 to 0 at the end of the night.
In a night of new beginnings for the Tigers, we would see the collegiate debut of many Tigers. In the no-doubt win, we saw Ally Casey, Ai Kitagawa, Abby Kudla, Alex Mackay, Evelyn Mackay, Jaileah McPherson, Elise Perron, Gillian Poiesz, and Olivia Silcox. Flavie Dubé, Camber Hayes, and Maddie Eskin made their first appearances as Memphis Tigers.
Mr 300 Of Memphis Soccer
One thing not new for the Lady Tigers is winning games. As we alluded to earlier in the piece, over the last six seasons this team has been dominant. For the last 24 seasons, there has been one constant and that is Brooks Monaghan. The loyal head coach of this program would make history in the win. Monaghan is now the 45th head coach to win 300 games in a career. In addition, Monaghan is now the 17th to win these games at one school.
In postgame, Monaghan would say “I’ve had so many great memories with this program,” Monaghan said. “Even amid the grind of the season, it’s nice to be able to step back and appreciate the success that the girls have had.” when talking about the monumental win. Memphis also continues their now 11-game winning streak in home-opening games as well as 18 consecutive wins furthering a stifling record at home of 41-2-3 since the 2019 season.
What Is Next?
As Memphis continues the early 2024 slate of non-conference games they now hit the road to Columbia, Missouri to battle the Missouri Tigers. These two will have a catfight on Sunday, August 18th, starting at 7 p.m. CT. This will be the first meeting since the 2013 season. The Tigers from Columbia would also start their 2024 season with a win as they would edge Missouri State, 2-1, at home.
