No. 13 Tech Loses First Big 12 Match

Friday, October 18

Lubbock, Texas

7:00 P.M.

Texas Tech Athletics

11-2-2 (3-1-2)

TCU

9-4-1 (3-1-1)

TCU

Texas Tech

October 18, 2019 | Women's Soccer

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Red Raiders drop 2-1 contest to TCU.

By: Jeremy O'Brien

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 13 Texas Tech lost its first conference game of the season to TCU, 2-1, Friday. The Red Raiders and Horned Frogs traded goals in the first half, but an early second-half score proved the deciding factor.

"You've got to take lessons from losses," said head coach Tom Stone. "We haven't lost since August, and we've been really dominant so far, but it's soccer."

Tech went down at home in the first half for the first time since a September matchup with Baylor last year. The Horned Frogs struck in just the fourth minute, thanks to Messiah Bright converting a breakaway started on a rare errant pass from the Tech back line.

The Red Raiders showed their resilience quickly, evening the score just five minutes later. The tying goal came from the head of Demi Koulizakis, who was on the end of a corner from Jordie Harr. The goal was the fourth of the season for the Australian, who entered her senior season having only scored one goal in her previous three years.

"I thought we were the better team for most of the night," Stone said. "But we didn't play well for the first five minutes and they scored on us, and now we were chasing them. Then we scored, and that was awesome to answer back."

Jordie finds Demi!

A corner from @Jordie_Harr reaches @Demikouli, who heads in her fourth goal of the year!

??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/e9tEbnFsKm
— Texas Tech Soccer (@TexasTechSoccer) October 19, 2019

The tie game carried into halftime, where the Red Raiders held a lead in shots, 11-8. Despite the momentum swinging in favor of Tech, the Horned Frogs again tallied a score within five minutes of emerging from the locker room. The score came from Gracie Brian, whose shot deflected off the shin of Cassie Hiatt in the box and got past keeper Madison White.

The score did not lead to more offense, though, as 19 shots in the first half gave way to just nine in the second. The chances were there, with Tech creating several opportunities but could not get someone on the end of them.

"We continued to create chances," Stone said. "The chances kept coming, it's just that unfortunately we couldn't put anything away.

"Lesson learned for the college kids, but we have no doubt they'll bounce back wonderfully next weekend."

The Red Raiders have six days to put their first loss in two months behind them, as they head to Waco and Austin next week for two critical conference games. Tech will play Baylor on Thursday before heading to face off with rival Texas on Sunday.