Men's Soccer Picks up Overtime Win at UConn

Friday, October 4

Hartford, Conn.

2:00 PM

University of Memphis

7-2

UConn

3-6-1

Memphis

UConn

Photo by: Don Claussen

Oct 04, 2019 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Michael Blanke finds Alexandros Ierides for game-winner in OT

HARTFORD, Conn. – Memphis men's soccer continued its winning ways Friday afternoon with an overtime win over UConn. The Tigers' winning streak reaches five matches with the golden goal.

Midfielder Alexandros Ierides walked in the game-winner in the 104^th minute, receiving the pass from Michael Blanke on the edge of the goal. Ierides has three goals on the year, now including two game-winners. Blanke picked up his first point as a Tiger on the assist. He marks the 12^th Tiger to register a point via a goal or assist this season.

With the win, Memphis moves to 2-0 in American Athletic Conference play, winning two of the four road matches the Tigers have as part of their conference slate. The 2-0 start also marks a first for Memphis as a member of the American.

"It was a tough game, it really was," said head coach Richard Mulrooney. "Give UConn credit, always tough to go up there and play. We've been in the overtime situation before, so we told the guys to compete for everything, and guys stepped up."

Both teams saw opportunities throughout the first half, with Memphis taking early control of possession in the match. Artur De Luca presented the first shot of the match in the third minute, following up with two more shots in the next few minutes. Though two were on goal, all three of the shots were stopped by UConn. The Tigers largely controlled possession for the first 35 minutes of the first half.

Memphis outshot the hosting Huskies 13-10, putting eight shots on goal. Parker Lackland, who picked up his third shutout of the season, saved UConn's only shot on goal.

UConn came out of halftime pushing the pace, controlling possession through the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Huskies found multiple corner kicks and shots through the opening portion of the second period, but were unable to put any on goal.

Memphis pushed back, however, finding good looks of its own on the counter. A corner kick from Christoforos Kourtis in the 74^th minute bounced around in the box, but was ultimately cleared by the host team.

The best chance of regulation for Memphis came in the 90^th minute. With the ball at his feet, Gurman Sangha drove into the attacking box, finding himself just feet away from giving Memphis the win in the waning minute of the match. Two shots from Sangha were perilously close to finding the target, but a desperate UConn defense was able to keep them out, forcing the game to overtime.

Memphis took control from the opening kick of overtime, establishing possession right away. Though it took a few minutes to get the offense developed into a chance, the score from Ierides in the 94^th minute ended the match in favor of the Tigers. The Tigers are now 4-3 all-time against UConn, including a 3-1 record on the road against the Huskies.

"Going into overtime, we told the team that we knew we could create shots, so just keep believing that it's going to come," added Mulrooney. "Sometimes it takes 90 minutes, sometimes it takes 110. We've been in overtime matches already this season, and we rewarded ourselves by making the right plays when it counted."

Memphis returns home for its next appearance for a nonconference match against UAB. First touch against the Blazers is set for 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 8.