The Lipscomb men’s soccer team (5-5-1) lost 2-0 to the Memphis Tigers (6-4-1) Wednesday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex after a series of three away games last week.
“We are still confident, we played well as a team; there are just little things we have to work on and we are going to stay positive moving forward,” senior midfielder Daniel Vieira said.
Throughout the first half, the Bisons sent many long passes up the left side of the field and played several quick, two-touch passes down the ride side; however, despite outshooting Memphis 4-3 in the half, Lipscomb couldn’t find the back of the net.
In the 39th minute, a ricocheted ball fell to the feet of a Tiger forward in the box and he scored to the left side of the goal givingMemphis a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
“We had a good first half despite the silly goal at the end,” Vieira said. “We wanted to keep moving the ball side to side and we wanted to watch out for the same stuff that hurt us on that goal.”
The Tigers, a team that entered the match with the 25th best shutout percentage in the nation at 0.50, stayed true to their defense throughout the game as they utilized speed to continually clear the ball away from Lipscomb attacks.
As strong back lines for both teams dominated the second half, the Bisons began to turn up the offensive pressure as time winded down.
In the 87th minute, a cross went all the way through the box, narrowly missed by several attackers.
Again in 88th minute, junior forward Kyle Smith had the ball in the box; yet, the Memphis goalkeeper dove to the ground and the referee whistled for a foul on Smith to give the Tigers the ball back.
“I was trying to get open or get someone else open,” Smith said. “The team got an opportunity that we had to capitalize on and unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
On the ensuing possession in the 89th minute, Memphis scored again to close the game 2-0.
“We have an attitude of resilience right now,” Smith said. “We have to focus on the next one against USC Upstate and we have to prepare for that game and keep moving.”
The Bisons continue their season with a conference game against USC Upstate Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics