Feb. 26, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis women's soccer team opened up spring play against Oklahoma State and St. Louis this past weekend. The Lady Tigers finished the weekend 1-1.

In the first match, Elise Kuhar-Pitters came up big by pulling off some amazing saves. "Elise was great in regards to her shot stopping, but struggled a little bit with her distribution, which will be fixed in due time," said Head Coach Brooks Monaghan.

Both teams started the match a little rusty and it took some time for each team to find their rhythm. Memphis had a fair share of scoring opportunities, but was unable to find the back of the net.

"Overall, I was pleased with the game. There were some good things and some bad things, which is to be expected in your first game back," added Monaghan. "We played everyone an equal amount of time. I felt that it was definitely a fair result today. It was great to be able to open our spring with such a high caliber team."

Against St. Louis University the Lady Tigers came out strong. They managed to possess the ball for most of the first half which led to several scoring opportunities. The midfield was exceptionally solid as they controlled the tempo of the match. At the midway point of the first half, freshman Krista Turner was able to slot a ball past the SLU goalkeeper to put the Tigers up 1-0.

In the second half, Memphis came out a little sluggish but was able to come away with the victory. "I was not satisfied with our performance in the second half but I was happy with several individual performances. We had several girls that were asked to play positions that they were not used to playing," added Monaghan. Laura Laufenberg was called upon to play center forward for Memphis, as she had to fill the void left in the line-up due to injuries by Melissa Smith and Ashley Berra. "I was very satisfied with her performance. She is not used to playing that position for us, but she did very well," said Monaghan.

"A huge positive on the day was that everyone got to play a lot of minutes," said Monaghan. "The only negative that it brings is you tend to lose your rhythm when you keep rotating players. As far as the spring goes, the number one priority for us is not just winning the game but it's always nice to get a victory against a quality opponent."

The Lady Tigers will travel to Argentina next week to face Estudiantes de la Plata, Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo de Almagro. They are three of Argentina's top professional women's soccer teams.