Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Shutout TCU in Second Spring Match
March 28, 2011 | Women's Soccer
March 28, 2011
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech soccer team won its second spring match with a 2-0 victory at TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth.
On its first score of the game, midway through the first half, sophomore Sarah Ellison received the ball in traffic just outside of the 18-yard box. She faked the shot and burst past two TCU defenders and into the box before slipping the ball to freshman Jessica Fuston, who was about 10 yard out to the left of the goal. Fuston's attempt to place the ball into the far post side netting was denied by the TCU keeper but the rebound came back to Ellison who was following the play. Ellison smashed home the first goal of the game from about eight yards out to give Tech the 1-0 lead.
The Red Raiders' second goal came with under two minutes to go in the game and TCU putting Tech under pressure to equalize, Tech's counter attack put Fuston on a breakaway to goal. With the ball bouncing and the keeper coming out, a TCU defender fouled Fuston as she was attempting to shoot and TCU's keeper was attempting to corral the ball. The ensuing restart left Fuston over the ball, on her first restart opportunity of the spring, from just outside the 18-yard box. Fuston hammered the ball over the TCU wall and past the keeper for the second and deciding goal of the match.
"It's no surprise that Jessica scored on the restart. She has been working on her set pieces for at least a year now," said head coach Tom Stone. "Finishing on set pieces takes a ton of work and repetition and it's nice to see her commitment to this paying off for her and for our team. As much as our attackers are fouled around the box, this is an offensive weapon we needed to develop, so hopefully we will continue to be dangerous on set pieces."
Ellison was again named as a standout player on the day by Stone.
"Sarah just keeps getting better, her drive to be good is amongst the highest on our team and her performance on Saturday was outstanding again," Stone said. "She played holding mid, not her normal spot, and completed most every pass while also getting forward to create and score the game winner. That is a pretty good day for anyone and it's becoming a nice trend for her."
The match saw junior Taylor Lytle play her first 90-minute match since the sixth game of the 2010 season.
"Taylor played well - she is stronger and taking important steps to being 90 minutes fit," stated Stone. "I probably left her out there a bit longer than I should have but she needs game fitness so we just let her work until the end. Plus, at any moment, fatigued or not, Taylor can make something special happen that might turn the game for us."
Along with Lytle, Tech has sophomores Conner Williams and Haley Fowler and freshman Hayley Haagsma all slowly returning to action, as all were injured most or all of last season.
"Obviously, Taylor is back after getting a full 90 minutes and Haley (Fowler) got her first game minutes of the spring which was great to see. Haley is a key for us - very aggressive and fantastic in the air. We did not win the battle in the air on Saturday and Haley is capable of taking a game over from that standpoint," said Stone.
Haagsma and Williams are allowed to in training but without contact as they enter the final stages of their ACL rehabilitation.
"Both Conner and Hayley have been warriors in rehab, pushing themselves to the limit in order to be released to play by the summer," Stone noted. "Hayley was our top freshman performer when she went down last fall and Conner was a top recruit from the '91 class so obviously we need both of them back on the field for us to reach our full potential. Both have looked very good in training and the team is eagerly awaiting their return."
The win over TCU improved Tech to 2-0 on the spring with three matches remaining.
"In some ways, this was a typical spring game in which both teams are clearly working on their game and moving players around quite a bit, letting everyone play, etc.," commented Stone. "However, this one also had some quality moments where the level of competition was very high and both teams were really getting after it. In addition to the two goals, we hit the post and cross bar and missed a sitter in front of an open net from about four yards, so those are some quality chances we created. On the other end, the best moments defensively came when we were under a lot of pressure from TCU trying to tie the game up. Casey McCall saved us several times with her pace and quality tackling and Gabby Kaufman made at least three big time saves to keep TCU from getting back into the game. Gabby's confidence grew from one save to the next and it was good to see her do so well in only her second college-level game."
The Red Raiders have three remaining spring matches and all will be played in Lubbock at the John Walker Soccer Complex:
April 2 vs. New Mexico, 12 p.m.
April 9 vs. UTEP, 12 p.m.
April 10 vs. UTEP, 10 a.m.
