SEGUIN, Texas – The Trinity women's soccer team secured its fifth consecutive win with a 2-1 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference road victory over Texas Lutheran University on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers improved to 7-4-2 this season and 4-0-0 in SCAC play. The Bulldogs dropped to 6-4-4 this season and 2-1-1 in conference action. Two of Trinity's five straight wins have been over TLU – the first was a 4-0 win in San Antonio.
Trinity held an 18-4 advantage in total shots, holding the Bulldogs to just two shots in each half. Texas Lutheran's second-half goal broke a streak of nearly 500 shutout minutes for the Tiger defense, dating back to the game before the current win streak started.
The Tigers had just eight first-half shots in today's game, with three of those coming in the first 15 minutes. Despite the fast start, the game was scoreless as the clock ticked under 15 minutes to play in the opening period. First-year
Malea Cesar (Portland, Ore. / Sunset) and junior
Abby Schneider (Albuquerque, N.M. / Bosque School) subbed into the game late in the half and both made almost immediate impacts.
In the 35th minute, Schneider found Cesar at the edge of the box, but the ball was knocked out by the TLU defense for what seemed like a harmless throw-in. First-year
Daryan Willyard (Austin, Texas / Lake Travis) threw it in to Schneider, who redirected it towards Cesar just outside the corner of the 18-yard box. Cesar then blasted a shot over the unsuspecting keeper for her first collegiate goal to give Trinity the 1-0 lead.
Schneider then added another score for the Tigers less than three minutes later to make it a 2-0 game. The play started when
Josephine McCray (Fairway, Kan. / Shawnee Mission East) forced a bad pass by TLU that was picked up by Trinity at midfield. McCray got the ball back going down the left side of the field and found
Kayla Boven (Katy, Texas / Tompkins) who raced behind the defense towards the end line. Her cross came into the box just over the head of a Bulldog defender, where Schneider knocked it in near the far post with her left leg.
The final shot of the half came from Schneider again as she dribbled around her defender outside the box, then unleashed a long-range attempt that was saved with just over five minutes remaining. The half ended with Trinity leading 2-0.
Texas Lutheran scored its goal in the 66th minute to cut the lead in half, and despite 10 shots in the second half, Trinity was unable to add a score of its own. Both of the on-target shots by the Tigers in the second half were saved. The only other shot of the half for TLU came in the 83rd minute, following a foul by the Tigers just outside the 18-yard box. That attempt was high and Trinity held on for the win.
Trinity will be on the road once again to start another conference weekend of play, traveling to the University of St. Thomas for a Friday evening game in Houston, Texas, at 5:00 p.m. The Tigers will finish the weekend by hosting Centenary College at Noon on Sunday, October 22.
