Red Raiders Begin Conference Play at Oklahoma

Sept. 24, 2015

RELATED LINKS
Game Notes
Live Stats (Friday)
Live Stats (Sunday)

The No. 15 Red Raiders will embark on the 2015 Big 12 slate Friday night as they travel to Norman Oklahoma, before wrapping up their non-conference schedule at Cal State Northridge on Sunday. The Red Raiders enter the weekend with their highest ranking of the regular season after being pegged as the 15th best team in the nation by the NSCAA on Tuesday.

I think Oklahoma is the program over the last two years that has been on the rise. Several years ago it was us and Baylor. Kansas has always been good and with West Virginia joining the league having been a Big East champion, there have been established teams and then our group came in and started making strides. The team to make the biggest strides in the past two years has been OU. They got super athletic, they have built a wall in front of their goal with five defenders and they make it tough on you. They play for Matt which is great. He has really got them going."

--Head Coach Tom Stone

INSIDE THE OKLAHOMA SERIES

Texas Tech enters Friday's match against the Sooners with a 10-6-1 advantage in the all-time series record. The Red Raiders have won six of the last seven meetings between the squads and have outscored the Sooners 14-6 during that time. The Sooner's scored a goal in the second overtime period of the match last season to snap a six game losing streak against the Red Raiders dating back to the `06 season.

INSIDE THE CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE SERIES

Texas Tech and Cal State Northridge have only met once prior to Sunday's match. The two teams met in Lubbock during the `13 season in a match that saw the Red Raiders come away with a 3-1 victory. The Matadors, a member of the Big West Conference, head into the weekend's matches with a perfect 4-0 home record. After earning a 0-0 draw against UC Irvine and Falling 1-0 on the road to No. 10 Pepperdine, the Matadors strung together a five game win streak. Entering the weekend, Cal State Northridge has won three of their last five matches.

TEXAS TECH IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

Coming off one of the best seasons in program history, the Texas Tech soccer program opened its 2015 campaign ranked 15th in the preseason NSCAA top-25 poll. It was the highest preseason ranking ever for the Red Raiders, who began the 2014 season ranked 17th before eventually ending the year at No. 14 overall. This week, Texas Tech climbed to its highest ranking of the regular season and was named No. 15 by the NSCAA on Tuesday. The Red Raiders, after falling to No. 21 after the first week of the season, have risen in the rankings each week during the regular season. The highest rankings for the Red Raiders came in 2014 when Texas Tech was tabbed as the No. 6 team in the country on September 16.

STONE RECORDS 100TH CAREER WIN

Head coach Tom Stone Recorded his 100th career win on Sunday September 20 with a 2-1 double overtime win over South Florida. The 100th career win for ninth year head coach Stone marks an important milestone for the coach who has built the Texas Tech soccer team into one of the nation's best programs. Prior to Stone's arrival in Lubbock, the Red Raiders owned a 24-104-3 record. The team had never appeared in the NCAA postseason and had amassed a 6-63-1 record in conference play. Since Stone dawned the scarlet and black, the Red Raiders have made three NCAA post season runs, and have played in eight Big 12 Championships.

RED RAIDERS FINDING SUCCESS WITH DAUNTING 2015 SCHEDULE

The Red Raiders have certainly challenged themselves this season with a schedule riddled with top-tier talent. So far this season, the Red Raiders have played just three matches against squads ranked outside of the top-100 of the latest RPI. Heading into this weekend, the Red Raiders have faced opponents with an average RPI ranking of 96. So far this season Texas Tech has faced four teams in the top-50 (1-2-1) and three teams in the top-30 (1-0-2).

This is by far the most quality teams we have played. Neil, my new assistant coach, said that every game has felt like a championship game and that's the schedule we have. Even New Mexico who we have had a pretty good run with the last few years was a really difficult game. They are going to be really good really soon. From USC to New Mexico to Minnesota, who is the best team we have played, to USF and FAU, these games are tough. We went to the PAC-12 Just for fun and we played Arizona and Arizona State. We have survived it and we have a better record for it and a better RPI for it and now we have to let that benefit us for Big 12 Play.

--Tom Stone

LAST TIME OUT

The Red Raiders battled 90 minutes of gale force wind and 20 minutes of torrential downpours at the John Walker Soccer Complex to emerge with a 2-1 victory over Florida Atlantic. In the first half, the Red Raiders got off to a sluggish start, conceding a goal in just the seventh minute of play. Florida Atlantic's Claire Emslie snuck a ball through the box to Geovana Alves who fooled junior keeper Lauren Watson to put the Owls up 1-0. In the 20th minute, senior Caity Heap received a dime from Alli Murphy in the 18 yard box and slammed in the equalizer. The goal for Heap marked her third of the season and made her the team leader in goals scored. The Red Raiders looked to their experienced front line in the second half for the go-ahead goal that would come in the 47th minute when Beckie fired a ball from the top of the box to give the Red Raiders a 2-1 advantage just three minutes into the half.

In Sunday's match, the No. 17 Red Raiders needed 108 minutes to get past the University of South Florida at the John Walker Soccer Complex. The win marked the first win by the Red Raiders in extra time and also gave head coach Tom Stone his 100th career win at Texas Tech. Senior midfielder Alli Murphy connected on both goals by the Red Raiders with two penalty kicks from just in front of the center stripe that found the back of the net. Murphy's effort marked the first multi goal game by a Tech layer this season and handed the Bulls their first loss of the 2015 season.

Texas Tech University Athletics