KSU Women’s Soccer team huddled up. Photo Credit: Tye Brown
Soccer’s home opener resulted in a 7-0 rout against Memphis at Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium on Thursday..
Memphis came into Thursday night’s game ranked at 24th in the nation, already with a commanding 6-0 victory against Southern Miss and a key 3-2 win against Southeastern Conference opponent Ole Miss.
This game was the Owls’ season opener after both games of their opening road trip, against Coastal Carolina and The Citadel, were cancelled due to inclement weather.
Thursday night’s contest against the Tigers began in a lightning delay as well, but the teams finally took the field a few minutes after 7:30.
Memphis opened the scoring early in the first half, after an unassisted goal in the 10th minute by Ai Kitagawa gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Memphis quickly extended its lead in the 19th minute on a goal by Ellis Kelly, assisted by Elise Perron, giving Memphis a 2-0 lead about halfway through the first half of play.
The Tigers extended their lead even further before halftime on an unassisted goal by Kitagawa, her second of the night, in the 33rd minute, making it a 3-0 advantage
Memphis widened the gap once again a minute later on a goal by Ashley Henderson, assisted by Flavie Dube, extending the Tiger lead to 4-0.
The Tigers scored once more in the first half on a goal by Taliah Brooks, assisted by Natalie Leibel, making the score 5-0 which is where it remained until halftime.
The second half began with Memphis running clock and keeping the ball out of KSU possession.
The scoring opened in the second half with another goal by Memphis, scored unassisted by Kelly for her second goal of the night.
The Tigers scored again just a few minutes later on a goal by Leibel, assisted by Kelly. This brought the score to a 7-0 Memphis lead in the 62nd minute.
The Owls failed to score in the final minutes, and the game ended in a 7-0 shutout victory for the Tigers.
KSU failed to get much offense going largely due to Memphis’s swarming defense and ability to control the time of possession. The Tigers finished with 25 shots compared to just three by the Owls, 11 of which were shots on goal.
KSU will hope for a better showing during next week’s road trip, as they are scheduled to face Auburn and Georgia State.
