Tech Begins Home Stand With SDSU, Cal State-Northridge

LUBBOCK, Texas – After playing six of their first seven matches on the road, the Texas Tech soccer team returns to Lubbock to begin a two week home stand, beginning with contests against San Diego State on Friday, Sept. 15, and Cal State-Northridge on Sunday, Sept. 17, at the John Walker Soccer Complex.

Both of the Red Raiders' (5-2-0) matches this weekend against the Aztecs (3-4-0) and the Matadors (3-1-4) are slated for 7 p.m. start times. As always, both contests will be streamed live online at TexasTech.TV, with live stats available via TexasTech.Statbroadcast.com.

"What's been fun about this team is we have played at a really high level on occasions," head coach Tom Stone said. "What's been part of the growing pains is a lot of new players and some young players getting in there is that there's dips along the way. You just have to push through those dips, get the team focused and not get down or not think you're the best team in the world when you play really well. When this team has been on, they've played at a higher level than I've seen in a while and that's exciting."

Last season, Tech and SDSU met for the first time, as the Red Raiders picked up a 1-0 victory after the Aztecs scored an own goal in San Diego. Sunday's contest will be the third meeting between Tech and CSUN. The Red Raiders posted 3-1 & 2-1 victories in 2013 & 2015, respectively, to hold a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series.

Tech has had only one match inside the confines of the John Walker Soccer Complex in 2017, as the Red Raiders rolled past Appalachian State, 4-0, on Sept. 3. Tech put on a show for the 1,596 fans in attendance, as four different Red Raiders in freshman forward Ally Griffin (34'), junior midfielder Gwennie Puente (40'), sophomore midfielder Savanna Jones (54') and freshman forward Kirsten Davis (77') all found the back of the net to put away the Mountaineers.

The Red Raiders improved to 11-0 under Stone in home openers with the win and pulled their all-time record at the John Walker Soccer Complex to 66-20-5.

Griffin also recorded both of Tech's goals last weekend in Tucson. After surrendering a Sun Devil marker in the 14^th minute of Friday's match, the Red Raiders quickly worked the ball down to the opposite end of the field and earned a corner kick. The service from sophomore midfielder Jordie Harr found a leaping Griffin, who used a header to put the first Tech goal on the board. With time winding down in the second half, Griffin gathered a throw-in from junior defender Brooke Denesik and turned for center of the box. Before getting there, she found a lane and rifled off a shot that rolled past the keeper in the 88^th minute for the go-ahead score and eventual game-winner.

The win improved the Red Raiders to 4-0 all-time against Arizona State, as the two programs have squared off every other year since 2011. Tech had also outscored the Sun Devils 9-1 during that stretch.

On Sunday, Tech dropped a tough battle with host Arizona after giving up the first goal of the night in the 88^th minute of the match. It was the first time since 2008 the Red Raiders had lost to the Wildcats.

"Arizona is a very good Pac-12 team; however, when we lost Carly [Wickenheiser] on Friday and then we kind of ran ourselves into the ground winning with 10 girls, I felt like we had a pretty heavy weight on us Sunday evening," Stone said. "Arizona needed a win big time and they played like it. That was the lesson that we drew from that in that we really can't afford to not play like that because the college season is so short.

"Give credit to those guys, they played lights out to make sure they got the win. We thought with two minutes to go before overtime, we'll see what happens from there and then they scored on that set piece. It's the thrill of victory on Friday night and the agony of defeat on Sunday. That's part of our sport and we moved on pretty quickly.

After last week in Tucson, Griffin leads the Red Raiders in goals (three), points (six) and shots (20), while Davis continues to hold the top spot in shots on goal with 10. Junior Carissa Christensen and freshman Marissa Zucchetto continue to split time in net for the Red Raiders, combining for 15 saves, as Christensen has stopped nine and Zucchetto has racked up six saves. The duo, along with stellar play from the Red Raider defensive unit, have kept opponents off the board in four of seven matches this season.

The Aztecs enter the weekend with a 3-4-0 record, picking up wins against UC Davis (Aug. 20), San Diego (Sept. 1) and then-No. 22 Nebraska (Sept. 8). They're led on offense by Mia Root, who has three goals and one assist so far this season, while keeper Gabby English has allowed 13 goals this season for a 1.77 goals against average. Friday night will be the only match of the weekend for SDSU.

The Matadors are in a similar boat, as their only contest this weekend will be Sunday night in Lubbock. Cal State-Northridge holds a 3-1-4 mark, with victories over Houston (Aug. 24), Utah valley (Aug. 27) and Eastern Washington (Sept. 10). Two of their draws came against ranked opponents in then-No. 24 Long Beach State on Aug. 18 and then-No. 16 Colorado on Sept. 2. Marissa Favela leads the Matadors with four goals and two assists for 10 points. In between the pipes, Jovani McCaskill has 30 saves and six goals allowed this season for a 0.74 goals against average.

"They're all big," Stone said about their non-conference matches. "I used to look at the week before conference and be like that weekend has to be perfect and we have to be awesome, but that hasn't really played itself out to be the case. You have to be ready for the Big 12, but your non-conference schedule has to be a resume builder. Right now at 5-2, that's pretty good, but certainly the more distance you put between that two and the win column, the better your resume looks. It's big, but it's not something we're focused on. We have to play our best soccer this weekend and we ultimately have to play our best soccer in order to have a great season."

The Red Raiders finish the two week home stand the following weekend and open Big 12 action against Kansas State on Friday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m., followed by Kansas on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 1 p.m., at the John Walker Soccer Complex.

Tech Begins Home Stand With SDSU, Cal State-Northridge

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Players Mentioned

Carissa Christensen

Kirsten Davis

Brooke Denesik

Ally Griffin

Jordie Harr

Savanna Jones

Gwennie Puente

Marissa Zucchetto