Tech Travels To Face In-State Rivals Texas, TCU

Friday, October 21

Austin, Texas

7:00 P.M.

Texas Tech Athletics

Texas

Tech Travels To Face In-State Rivals Texas, TCU

October 20, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Match Notes Live Stats (Texas)Live Stream (Texas) $Live Stats (TCU)Live Stream (TCU) $

The Red Raiders hit the road for the final time in regular season play this weekend.

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech soccer team embarks on their final road trip of the 2016 regular season, as they head to Austin to face Texas on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by TCU in Fort Worth on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Friday's contest will be broadcast live on the Longhorn Network and on the ESPN app. The announce team will consist of Glenn Davis & Kate Markgraf. Sunday's match will air live on FOX Sports Southwest and on the FOXSportsGo app. This weekend's bouts will wrap up a three-straight television appearance slate for the Red Raiders, as last weekend's match against No. 1 West Virginia aired on ESPNU.

"It's obvious that there's a lot of points at stake," head coach Tom Stone said. "There's three games left, so nine points, and probably five or six teams are going to change positions considerably based on the results and we're one of those teams. Like everybody else, we want points, so we have to go on the road to get them."

The Longhorns (7-7-1, 0-4-1) and the Horned Frogs (8-4-2, 0-4-1) both sit behind the Red Raiders in the conference standings heading into this weekend. Texas has battled in three overtime matches during Big 12 play, picking up a draw at Baylor and falling at Oklahoma and to Oklahoma State. The Longhorns have had 10 different goal scorers in 2016, led by sophomore forward Alexa Adams with five tallies. Adams, along with several other Longhorns, are ranked inside the top 10 in the league in various offensive categories. The Red Raiders and the Longhorns have needed overtime to settle their last three battles over the last two seasons.

TCU powered through their non-conference slate with an 8-0-1 record before hitting Big 12 action. The Horned Frogs have dropped three of their last four contests, and will be playing at home for the first time since Sept. 30. TCU has three players who have scored five or more goals this season, with sophomore forward Faith Carter leading the way with six. Her total ranks fourth in the conference this season, while senior forward Michelle Prokof is second in the league in points per game and goals per game. Their offense is flanked by the Big 12 leader and top five in the NCAA in total assists and assists per game in junior forward Emma Heckendorn, who has nine in 2016. Tech rides an eight-match unbeaten streak against the Horned Frogs dating back to 2009.

The Red Raiders (8-5-2, 1-4-0) will look to get back into the win column after a tough battle at No. 1 West Virginia last weekend. Tech dropped a 1-0 decision in Morgantown on Oct. 14, with the defense standing tall against a barrage of Mountaineer attacks to keep the match scoreless until the 83^rd minute. Senior goalkeeper Lauren Watson racked up eight saves that night, which is the most in a conference match by a Big 12 keeper this season. All four of Tech's Big 12 losses have come in one-goal contests, while the victory over Iowa State was a 3-0 rout in Lubbock.

"They're walking tall right now," Stone said about his defense and how they performed against WVU. "They knew they stood up against the best team in the country. That was the best offense in the country and they knew they played really well. So, there wasn't a single defender who needed to be told to pick their head up after that performance."

The Big 12 schedule is a daunting eight-match slate, with all but the first two dates coming during the month of October. After this weekend, the Red Raiders will conclude the regular season at the John Walker Soccer Complex against Oklahoma on Oct. 28, before the conference tournament the following week. Four of Tech's Big 12 opponents are ranked or receiving votes in the latest NSCAA poll. Two of the Red Raiders non-conference opponents also appear in this week's poll.

BUILDING A WALL
Watson entered the season with 168 career saves, needing only seven to move into No. 5 on the career saves list at Texas Tech. After recording nine against Arizona and two more in the win over Northeastern, along with her four in the opening weekend, she took sole possession of the fifth spot in the standings. Her nine saves against Arizona on Aug. 26 are tied for the most in a single-match by a Big 12 goalkeeper this season. Last weekend, she added eight more saves on the road at No. 1 West Virginia, giving her 63 this season for a career total of 231. In the Iowa State match, she passed Victoria Esson for fourth all-time at Texas Tech at 213. The third-place keeper, Megan Knauss, put together a career mark of 266 saves from 2002-05.

IRON WOMEN
The Red Raiders have had 13 different players log all 90+ minutes of action in at least one match this season. Leading the way is senior keeper Lauren Watson, who has been in goal for every minute of every contest in 2016. Defenders Rebekah O'Brien and Brooke Denesik follow closely behind in full-matches played with 11 and 10, respectively. The other 10 competitors to have accomplished the feat so far include: Cassie Boren (7), Mary Heiberger (3), Carly Wickenheiser (3), Jordan Duke (2), Jordie Harr (2), Gwennie Puente (2), Cassie Conarty (2), Jade King (2) and Margaret Begley (2), as senior defender Jade Dapaah joined them this week after playing the entire match at West Virginia last weekend.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Tech has had nine different goal scorers in 2016. On Sept. 23 in Lawrence, No. 9 came from junior defender Cassie Conarty, who found the ball at midfield against Kansas, dribbled it up near the Jayhawk box, then fired a shot to the right-side of the goal for the score.

CAREER FIRSTS
Seven Red Raiders have notched their first career goals during the 2016 season. The last to do so was sophomore midfielder Jordan Duke, who tallied the lone goal over ORU on Sept. 9 with a header after locating a corner kick from sophomore defender Margaret Begley from the far side of the field. While three are freshman, the other half have come from two juniors (Rebekah O'Brien & Natalie Schmutz) and two sophomores (Cassie Boren & Duke).

YOUNG FIREPOWER
Texas Tech freshmen have put up eight of the team's 19 goals this season. Five have come from the team-leader in goals, forward Jade King, while midfielder Jordie Harr and redshirt freshman defender Gabbie Puente have posted two and one scores, respectively, in 2016.

KING'S KINGDOM
Freshman forward Jade King is a threat to put a ball in the back of the net every time she touches the ball. She notched her team-high fourth & fifth goals of the season against Iowa State on Sept. 25 in Tech's 3-0 win over the Cyclones. Her two scores are the most by an individual player in a single conference match this season. She sits in second in overall in the league in shots (64) and shots per game (4.27), while maintaining her top 25 NCAA ranking in the latter at No. 23.

-4.5
Senior goalkeeper Lauren Watson posted her fifth shutout of the season on Sept. 25 after a 3-0 victory against Iowa State. Her total ranks third in the conference standings. Already sitting in second place in the all-time records at Texas Tech in career shutouts, she is now 4.5 behind school record holder Victoria Esson for the lead in the category with 24.5.