It had to be Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos.

The American Athletic Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and leading scorer for Memphis men's soccer, dos Santos scored two first-half goals to power the Tigers to a 2-1 win over SIU Edwardsville on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Billy J. Murphy Track and Soccer Complex.

It was Memphis' first-ever NCAA Tournament win.

"It meant a lot," dos Santos said. "We've been talking about this since the beginning of the season. About this team making history."

Memphis (11-5-2) will face No. 3 North Carolina at 4 p.m. CT Sunday in Chapel Hill.

SIUE, which earned an automatic berth as the winner of the Ohio Valley Conference, went into the game undefeated, but it was Memphis that took control in the first half. The Cougars (16-1-3) fought back in the second and was a threat even though it played with 10 men after goalkeeper Sam Gomez received a red card.

The game took a few minutes to pick up, but the Tigers took control of the game in the ninth minute with a perfectly set up opener.

Hayden Anderson sent in a ball that flashed across Gomez's goal to a waiting Anders Bordoy on the far post. He flicked it with the outside of his foot to dos Santos, who headed it home before Gomez could recover.

The Memphis captain almost doubled the lead in the 25th minute, but Gomez made a sliding save on an uncontested header to keep the score at 1-0.

Memphis kept pushing, though. SIUE finally got the ball forward, but that only opened the Cougars up to a counterattack from the Tigers. Elie Bokota carried the ball from midfield to the SIUE penalty area and then laid it off to a waiting dos Santos, who coolly put it into the nearside corner of the net past a helpless Gomez for a 2-0 lead.

SIUE came out with a much more aggressive game plan in the second half. The Cougars fought back, repeatedly pinging the ball toward Colin Welsh's goal. He made a diving save in the 57th minute to keep the score at 2-0, but Pavel Dashin scored in the 61st minute to make it a one-goal game.

The Cougars' comeback attempt took a serious hit, however, when Gomez charged out and brought down dos Santos with a nasty challenge just outside the box. Referee Dorian Del Toro immediately reached for his pocket and showed Gomez the red card.

"We talked about it at halftime," dos Santos said. "We were up, so it was up to us to be calm and control the game. And we just had to stay focused, at the end of the day."

SIUE continued to push with 10 men but ultimately couldn't find an equalizer, and the Tigers ran out the clock for their historic win.

Coach Richard Mulrooney said after the game that Thursday's result was the best win he has had since he took over as Tigers coach in 2014.

"At the end of the day, it's the biggest one," he said. "You can't take anything away from it. We've had some big ones this year, the USFs, whatever it may be. This is why we play. This is why we do the 7 a.m. lifts in the spring, this is why the guys go away for the summer and not stay with their families and play. For moments like this."

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis men's soccer beats SIUE for first-ever NCAA tourney win