Wolverines blank Tigers in historic NCAA Tournament win
The Wolverines shut out the Memphis Tigers with a score of 1-0 on Wednesday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Johnson Stadium on East Carolina campus. The ninth win in a row for Utah Valley women’s soccer marks the first time any UVU program has won in an NCAA tournament.
While Memphis had significantly more shots than the Wolverines, it came down to forward Sadie Brockbank’s shot on goal in the 60th minute, assisted by forwards Julianna Carter and Amber Tripp for UVU to get on the board. Brockbank was able to kick the ball over Memphis’ keeper’s head into the back of the net for the only score of the game.
The Wolverine forwards kept the Tiger defense on their toes throughout the 90-minute battle as Heather Stainbrook led the pack with three shots on goal with help from Tripp and Brockbank who each had one.
Goalkeeper Isabel Jones-Dawe and the rest of the defensive group had their work cut out for them as Memphis took 15 shots with five of those on goal, Jones-Dawe pulling through to save each of those to make the game the 11th shutout for the Wolverines this season.
“We thought that if for 90 minutes that we have a match where everybody buys in and is committed and willing to give everything that they have 100%, that it would be good enough,” said UVU head coach Chris Lemay. “We had players on the field crying happy tears. That’s fully committed and they deserve this.”
UVU will face No. 6 Arkansas in the second round on Saturday at Johnson Stadium at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.