Memphis Men’s Soccer advances to second round of NCAA Tournament with 2-1 win versus SIUE

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The Memphis Men’s Soccer team made history Thursday night as they defeated SIUE 2-1 to move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The win marked the first-ever NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The Tigers’ record improves to 11-5-2 on the year.

The Tigers came out the gate swinging as AAC Offensive Player of the Year Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos scored a back-post header off an assist from freshman Anders Bordoy.

Minutes later, Elie Bokota passed it into dos Santos who spun around the defender in the box to put away his 2nd goal of the night and his 14th in the season as the Tigers led 2-0.

SIUE put the pressure on Memphis in the 56th minute but Tigers goalkeeper Colin Welsh made a diving save to keep the Cougars scoreless.

The shutout would not last long after as in the 60th minute, SIUE’s Pavel Dashin scored to close the gap to 1 goal for the Cougars.

SIUE would face adversity as three minutes later, goalkeeper Sam Gomez received a red card after a tackle outside the box. The Cougars were forced to play with one less player for the remainder of the game.

From there, both teams traded chances to score but none of them were successful as the Tigers held onto the win.

Memphis will have its hands full in the second round as they travel to Chapel Hill to face #3-seeded North Carolina.

Kick-off is set for Sunday, November 19 at 4 P.M. CT on ESPN+.

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