A year after a record-breaking season, Memphis men’s soccer was stuck in a rut.
Put simply, the Tigers were going backward. They opened the 2024 season 1-4, struggling to replace star striker Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos as they piled up nonconference losses.
“It’s tough,” coach Richard Mulrooney said. “At the end of the day, when you’re 1-4, as much as I want to say, ‘Guys, we’re better than this,’ records don’t lie.”
The problem, defender Logan Longo said, was that Memphis had no identity. After a loss to Mercer, at the lowest point of the season, they finally found it.
“I think it was just hard work and grinding,” Longo said. “We’re not the most technical team. We’re not the best soccer players. But it was just, we kind of built into the mantra of Memphis. It’s the grit and grind city. It’s just kind of buying into that and realizing, if we outwork our opponents, we’re never going to lose. We always have a chance.”
Longo, a Memphis native who played at Briarcrest, spent the first two seasons of his career at Mercer before transferring to his hometown team. He’s part of a group of seniors who helped Mulrooney bring this team out of the rut and turn the season around.
That new identity worked. Memphis started grinding out results, winning its first three AAC games and ultimately using a draw at Florida International to win the AAC regular-season title. That means the Tigers get to host the conference tournament, and they’ll face the Panthers in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“I think that pressure of winning has already been on us,” Mulrooney said. “It’s win or go home. We know that. I think everybody involved in this is in that same boat. But we’ve already been living that life for the last month and a half, so we don’t know any different.”
The Tigers started the season knowing they’d need to craft a new identity after losing dos Santos, who transferred to Marshall. He won AAC offensive player of the year and was named a third-team All-American after scoring 14 goals and netting two more in Memphis’ 2-1 win over SIUE in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
It has been an approach by committee. Though the Tigers are the top seed in the AAC, they don’t have anyone at the top of any major conference statistic. Jackson Kim was named AAC defensive player of the year, however, while Filip Sabatti was named goalkeeper of the year and Lleyton Imparato won co-midfielder of the year.
Memphis has lost only one conference game this season. Don’t get it twisted, though — the No. 1 next to Memphis doesn’t mean it is the favorite to win this tournament. Charlotte, FIU and Florida Atlantic — the other three teams remaining — all have higher RPI numbers than Memphis.
That makes it a simple equation for the Tigers: Win the AAC title, or miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.
“I love a good win-or-go-home situation,” Longo said. “It’s one of those things where everyone’s going to be fighting for their lives. They’re fighting for their season.”
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
