Texas Tech Edged By Oklahoma State, 1-0

Friday, October 7

Lubbock, Texas

6:00 P.M.

Texas Tech Athletics

8-3-2, 1-2-0

Oklahoma State

7-5-2, 2-2-0

Oklahoma State

Texas Tech

Texas Tech Edged By Oklahoma State, 1-0

October 07, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Red Raiders fall to the Cowgirls, 1-0, in first match of October.

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech soccer team dropped a tough battle to Oklahoma State, 1-0, on Friday night at the John Walker Soccer Complex.

The Cowgirls (7-5-2, 2-2-0) struck early in the first half, after a feed from forward Courtney Dike found forward Marlo Zoller about 13 yards in front of the Red Raider goal. Zoller sent a shot past a diving Lauren Watson to the right-side of the net for the score just five minutes into the match.

"We kind of handed them a goal on a silver platter," head coach Tom Stone said. "Once they got the goal, they knew what to do, which was just to try to frustrate us the rest of the game. I don't think they created another chance in the entire contest other than the one we gave them. So that's tough to swallow."

It would be the only tally of the evening for either side, as the Cowgirls put up eight shots overall, five in the first frame and only three in the second half. The Red Raiders (8-3-2, 1-2-0) had eight alone in the first half, followed by 12 in the second period for 20 overall. It's the second-most shots Tech has recorded in a match this season and the most in a conference bout so far in 2016.

Sophomore midfielder Jordan Duke put up a career-high eight shots in Friday's contest. She was also one of six Red Raiders to log all 90 minutes of the match. Along with Tech's 20 shots, they earned 12 corner kick opportunities, including a 7-to-0 output in the second frame, holding OSU to just three in the entire match, but the Red Raiders were unable to convert on the opportunities.

"First, they matched our system and that didn't work, then they went to a different formation, and that didn't work, then they went to five in the back and that started to give them some joy," Stone said. "We got 12 corners and we had shots around the top of the 18', but they had a lot of people back and they deserve a lot of credit for building a bit of a fortress in front of the goal."

Friday's contest was a physical battle, as the two sides combined for 29 fouls, as Oklahoma State amassed 15, compared to Tech's 14.

It was the first time since 2013 that a match between the Red Raiders and the Cowgirls had not ended in a draw. Two of the last three times Tech and Baylor, the Red Raiders' opponent on Sunday, have met, the matches have also ended in a tie, going 0-0 in 2013 & 1-1 in 2015, with a 1-0 Tech victory sandwiched in between in 2014.

"Well the opponent tonight and the opponent on Sunday (Baylor) are so dramatically different that this game doesn't help us for Sunday unless it motivates us, which it should," Stone said. "It's a massive disappointment to be 20-to-8 in shots and 12-to-3 in corners and not at least equalize. This game was obviously there for us to win and we weren't able to get even. If we had gotten even, I feel fairly certain we would've won."

The Red Raiders will close out the weekend with a Sunday afternoon bout with the Bears (9-4-1, 2-1-1) at 1 p.m. at the John Walker Soccer Complex.