John Denver went to Texas Tech and No. 19 Texas Tech Soccer went to the country roads of Morgantown, West Virginia on a cold, damp night to earn a crucial, gritty 1-0 win. Their effort and FIGHT moved them to 7-0-2 in conference play to stay tied for the Big 12 lead alongside TCU with two games remaining.
It doesn't always work out where two teams amongst the top of the standings in the final phase of the season are matched up against one another but it did in this one as West Virginia came in at 6-1-1 in conference just narrowly behind Texas Tech at 6-0-2. For that reason, the intensity from both teams was there from the jump - it was just manifesting in different ways offensively as West Virginia controlled possession and notched six early corners while Texas Tech was getting more dangerous run of play chances off nice spurts of combination play. One such moment created this solid chance from Kaitlyn Giametta, which went down as the first official shot on goal of the game about 25 minutes in.
The teams traded moments from there with Faith Nguyen making her first save around the nine minutes remaining mark on a dangerous break down the right side of the box by West Virginia. No big thing for Faith though as she handled it cleanly to set the stage for Texas Tech to get their first goal of the game, a goal that is the result of oh so many individual bits of brilliance so sit back and go on a quick journey with us.
Five Moments Before THE MOMENT
Note the first ball from Elise Anderson right at the beginning of this clip, are you kidding me with that placement? PERFECTION. The senior continues to be one of the best players on the field for either team every single game. Class.
WHAT SORCERY IS THIS FIRST TOUCH FROM PEYTON PARSONS! The ball just dies at her feet like she reeled it in on a string after it had just flown through the air across half the field. A risky but successful sliding block from the defender stopped this from being a goal but the soccer gods remember all and Parsons is ultimately rewarded a minute later.
Taylor Zdrojewski is stronger than you, fitter than you and WANTS IT MORE THAN YOU (just peep the grass stains all over her jersey by the end of this one.) After Parsons initial shot is deflected out of the box it is Z who runs the ball down and forces the WVU defender to rush another clearance that ends up back at the feet of Peyton Dyess who then immediately kickstarts ANOTHER Texas Tech attack.
After some fun play down the side from Chloe Soto and Peyton Dyess, the ball eventually ends up at the feet of the freshman Alana Harry who somehow sends a ball through four WVU defenders to Zdrojewski (who had worked her way all the way back into the play.) Not the first time we have seen Harry show off her passing abilities this season, she doesn't end up with an assist here in the boxscore but it very much was the game-winning assist in reality. OKAY FRESHMAN.
Oh Hi Zdrojewski AGAIN! Fights through the contact after getting knocked to the ground, gets back up and nearly makes a goal herself that just goes wide right. The initial knock to the ground however was enough to earn the PK of which Peyton "ice in her veins" Parsons calmly hammered home to give Texas Tech a lead they would not relinquish.
This entire sequence is Texas Tech Soccer. They kept the pressure on, fought for every second ball, had nearly the whole dang team touch the ball on these back-to-back attacks and end up with a late in the half, soul crushing goal. WE LOVE IT!
"Tonight she [Zdrojewski] played a full 90 minutes. For Z that was incredible. To win everything in the air, to defend the other team's best header, to earn us the penalty kick. Z was in every way a major reason why we won." - Head Coach Tom Stone.
The second half saw Texas Tech reclaim some of the possession game West Virginia had controlled in the first but the Mountaineers did have a few scary chances including one that led to a (in our opinion) soft PK call against Macy Blackburn who seemed to get the ball on a tackle in the box but have no fear FAITH SUPER DAWG NGUYEN IS HERE!
It feels like a fitting time to bring up a quote from Macy Blackburn herself after the Iowa State game on Sunday:
"We have the saying 'I got you, you got me' throughout the backline up to Faith. That was something Faith brought to us as our goal keeper. If we get beat we know Faith is behind us and if something happens with Faith she knows we got her back too. That's been our motto this year and I think it's carried us through."
Case. Point. Period.
Other Moments of Note:
Cassie Taylor. Crunch. The Rock. Inevitable. HER.
Chloe Soto is WEST TEXAS TOUGH! She blocked a rocket of a shot with her whole face and had to leave the game due to safety protocols on hits to the head but seemed relatively unfazed only moments later. She's just like that.
Oh hi Zdrojewski AGAIN! She was everywhere, all game and WVU truly had no answer for her strength or outright intensity. The announcers were even noting this concern mere minutes into the game as they spoke on how they weren't sure this Mountaineer backline had faced forwards with the presence and physicality of Williams or Zdrojewski yet this season. Who can blame them really as those two together up top are arguably one of the most physical forward duos you'll see. Z showed that again on this play that nearly led to a Peyton Parsons brace, who continues to be a menace on free kick opportunities.
The win marked 26 straight Big 12 games going back to 2022 without a defeat and 15 straight conference road games without a loss dating back to 2021. A streak that is impressive no matter the circumstances but considering many pundits held a funeral for this team after they lost a couple All-Big 12 players to injury prior to the season.....it's all the more impressive it is still going. Impressive but not shocking if you've been watching though, this team is full of elite competitors at every position. Work left to do however to add to it as next up the team travels to Cincinnati for a Sunday throw down with a Bearcats team that earned a draw with Colorado last night. First kick at 12 pm CT on ESPN+. LET'S FIGHT! 🧘♀️
If you enjoyed our content and would like to support our efforts to cover these teams you can do so via the link below. Thanks for stopping by. Wreck 'Em.❤️
Comments