Tigers women soccer blanks Temple, 4-0
Memphis Tigers coach Brooks Monaghan has led his team to four straight victories in women’s soccer. (Wes Hale/The Daily Memphian file)
The No. 16 Memphis women’s soccer team picked up its fourth straight victory on Thursday night, cruising to a 4-0 victory over Temple in a match played in Philadelphia.
The Tigers (9-1-1, 4-0-1 AAC) remain undefeated in conference play, moving to the top of the table with one more point than second-place Rice. Senior Maddie Eskin, who played high school ball at Houston High, had one goal and two assists, the most points she has ever recorded in a collegiate game (four).
Memphis scored two goals in each half, with defender Izzy Monck opening the scoring and freshman Natalie Leibel scoring her first collegiate goal in the 87th minute.
Kaylie Bierman kept her sixth shutout of the season and her 15th as a Tiger, now the fifth-most in school history.
“That was the best start to a game that we have had in a while. We showed real urgency getting forward trying to get an early goal, and once we did, that changed the game,” said head coach Brooks Monaghan. “We were tired of winning by one goal, and we acted like it. It was nice to be able to get a lot of players in the game late; seeing players like Natalie get their first career goal is a coach’s dream.”
The Tigers had practically all of the ball in the opening half-hour, as Temple dropped incredibly deep with every player on their side of midfield. Off a corner kick in the 13th minute, Eskin was able to poke a loose ball into Monck’s path for the second goal of the junior’s season, with both coming off corners.
Eskin created another goal just minutes later, as her cross was wonderfully struck by Ai Kitagawa into the bottom right corner in the 18th minute. It marks a team-high fifth goal for the freshman Kitagawa.
In the 60th minute, Finley Lavin won the ball back and drove a pass to Momo Nakao at the top of the box, who found a near-post runner in Kitagawa. The freshman’s attempt for her second goal was saved by the keeper but rolled right into the path of Eskin to tap in for a well-deserved goal.
Leibel, who totaled 26 minutes of substitute action, found her goal with four minutes to go off a well-worked assist from Lavin. She is the ninth Tiger to record a goal this season.
Memphis is back home Sunday, Oct. 13, for a showdown with fourth-place East Carolina at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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