Tech Hosts App State In Home Opener Sunday

LUBBOCK, Texas – After spending the first two weekends of the 2017 season on the road, the Texas Tech soccer team finally opens its home slate against Appalachian State on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 7 p.m. at the John Walker Soccer Complex.

The Red Raiders (3-1-0) take on the Mountaineers (0-3-2) in their only game of the weekend and their first of eight home matches this season. Live stats for the contest will be available through TexasTech.Statbroadcast.com, with live stream through TexasTech.TV.

"Going four on the road to start the year wasn't easy for our girls, but it was something we needed to do," head coach Tom Stone said. "We weren't as good on the road as we had been in previous years, so we decided we were going to play the first six of eight away from home and get that over with and get toughened on the road."

Last season, the Red Raiders put together a 7-3-1 record inside the confines of the John Walker Soccer Complex. The Walker historically has not been friendly to opposing teams, as Tech has posted an impressive 62-17-4 record at home since 2009. During that time, the Red Raiders have hosted four NCAA Tournament first round matches, where Tech is a spotless 4-0 when playing in Lubbock.

For the first time this year, Tech will square off with a familiar foe, as the two teams met in 2016 in Boone, North Carolina. The Red Raiders picked up a 2-1 victory in that September contest, with an equalizer from then-sophomore midfielder Gwennie Puente (61') and an own goal (76') to give Tech the win.

Last season's meeting was the first in program history between the two squads.

"Their coaching staff is really good and their team has a good attitude about playing maybe a 'bigger-name team,'" Stone said. "So, this is one of the bigger games on their non-conference schedule and we're looking at it the same way. It's our home opener. They came really close to upsetting us last year and we're not taking them lightly."

Tech put together a 3-1 record during the month of August, which included all three wins via clean sheets. It was the first time since 2013 the Red Raiders have posted shutout victories in its first three wins of the year, when that squad recorded four-straight to open the year.

In the first weekend of the season, the Red Raiders picked up back-to-back 1-0 victories over Grand Canyon (Aug. 18) and San Francisco (Aug. 20), with the latter coming in double overtime. After suffering its first loss of the year at Pepperdine on Aug. 25, Tech rallied to defeat San Diego, 1-0, to wrap up the month of August.

"It's one of those things where you have to face the reality of how you prepared and performed and you just have to accept it," Stone said. "It isn't always easy, you have to have some thick skin to handle criticism and the coaches had to do the same thing with each other and decide how we could've prepared the team better.

"On Sunday, we came out with a 'No Excuses' mentality and we carried it throughout the game from warmup, to pregame, to focus, to the first five minutes. It was our most complete performance of the season, not our best of the year, but it certainly was a really good one."

With time winding down in a scoreless bout in San Diego, a pair of passes from junior defender Brooke Denesik & Puente found freshman forward Kirsten Davis, who crashed the goal and fired a shot through the legs of the Torero keeper & into the net for game-winning tally.

Davis' score made her the second Red Raider to pick up her first collegiate goal in 2017. The first happened in the season opener against Grand Canyon on Aug. 18 in Albuquerque. After a Tech shot was blocked by a Lope defender, the ball kicked back to junior Hannah Fernandez, who sent a perfectly-placed ball to the far-left corner of the net for the score.

The Mountaineers represent a similar threat in Pepperdine last weekend in that the squad is still looking for its first win of the season after falling on some hard times to begin 2017. All three of their losses have come in one-score games against High Point (Aug. 18), at Campbell (Aug. 20) and at Northern Kentucky (Aug. 29). App State also has two 1-1 draws at Ball State (Aug. 27) and on Friday against UNC Greensboro.

The Red Raiders and the Mountaineers are in the same boat offensively this year, both scoring three goals from three different student-athletes. Along with Davis & Fernandez, junior midfielder Carly Wickenheiser also has a tally for Tech, scoring a double overtime, golden-goal against San Francisco on Aug. 20 to lift the Red Raiders to a 1-0 win.

Through four matches, Tech has posted three-shutout victories, as junior Carissa Christensen and freshman Marissa Zucchetto continue to split time between the pipes for the Red Raiders. The duo has combined for eight saves this year, with Christensen accounting for five. The two even split the two overtime periods on Aug. 20 against San Francisco. In that contest, the duo put up four saves, two each, while helping Tech to two clean sheets to begin the year. Both of Christensen's saves came within the first six minutes of the match, while Zucchetto's came late in the day at the 83' & 98' marks. The duo did not face a shot that required a save during the season opener against Grand Canyon.

After this weekend's competition, the Red Raiders head back on the road for the University of Arizona Invitational, where Tech will face off with Arizona State (Sept. 8) and Arizona (Sept. 10) in Tucson.

Home Sweet Walker. We'll see you Sunday night at 7. #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/Idsf13G14P
— Texas Tech Soccer (@TexasTechSoccer) September 1, 2017

Tech Hosts App State In Home Opener Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Carissa Christensen

Kirsten Davis

Brooke Denesik

Hannah Fernandez

Gwennie Puente

Carly Wickenheiser

Marissa Zucchetto

Texas Tech University Athletics