Memphis Narrowly Falls to Ole Miss in Overtime

Sunday, September 20

Memphis, Tenn.

7:00 PM CT

University of Memphis

4-3-1

Ole Miss

6-2-2

OT 2

Ole Miss

Memphis

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Sep 20, 2015 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Marie Levasseur scores her second goal of the season in the loss

Memphis and Ole Miss battled into overtime Saturday night at Mike Rose Soccer Complex but it was the Rebels that came out with the win, 2-1, over the Tigers. Marie Levasseur scored for the Tigers (4-3-1) early in the first half but the Rebels' Cece Kizer scored twice to secure the win.

The Tigers will now turn their attention to conference play with a match at Tulsa Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Memphis will then return home for the team's final nonconference match of the year, against Gonzaga, Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

"A loss is never easy but I'm proud of the group," Memphis head coach Brooks Monaghan said. "You can walk away with your head high after you lose a match when your team puts in a full effort. We got better tonight and got a little bit deeper because some kids got on the field and they proved something. Now its time to focus on the second part of our season and get healthy."

The opening goal was a great team effort by Memphis. Elysia Masters served in a great long free kick and Valerie Sanderson flicked the ball on with a header. Levasseur met the ball in the air and headed it into the net in the eighth minute.

Memphis withstood constant pressure from Ole Miss for the majority of the first half. The Rebels outshot the Tigers 8-3 in the first half, including a shot off of the crossbar in the opening minutes. Goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel made a save in the final seconds of the first half to keep Ole Miss off the board before halftime.

Ole Miss grabbed the equalizer in the 65^th minute after the ball fell to the feet of Kizer, who did just what she's done all season and put the ball in the back of the net.

The Tigers had a great opportunity to win the game early in overtime when freshman Morgan Thornton was played in with a great ball. She made a great run and was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, who made a great save to deny Thornton.

A few minutes later Kizer was able to score her ninth goal of the season and fifth game-winning goal to give Ole Miss the win. The freshman forward gathered a rebound and fired it in to the net from a tight angle.

"I told the team to walk away with their heads high and lets learn from this. If we can get healthy and play with this heart we have just as good of a chance as anyone in our conference," said Monaghan.

Memphis was picked to finish fourth in the American Athletic Conference and will open league play against Tulsa, who was picked to finish seventh.

Saturday's home match will be part of an "Alumni Weekend" double header with the men's team hosting UCF following the women's game.