by Will Lanigan
The Texas Tech soccer team, despite a valiant effort, fell to the No. 8 Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University 1-0 in Thursday evening’s regular season finale. It was Tech’s only home loss of the season.
The stat sheet was very close between the two teams but with slight advantages toward TCU. TCU led in shots 10-8, shots on goal 5-3, and corners 5-1. Tech led in saves 4-3.
With the win, TCU clinched the Big 12 conference championship.
The teams matched each other possession for possession and block for block throughout the entire game until TCU senior forward Messiah Bright broke through and scored the game’s lone goal on a bloop shot with just over five minutes remaining in the game.
TCU sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Kellett and Tech junior goalkeeper Madison White otherwise had no blemishes.
In a game where the officials mostly allowed both teams to play very physically, TCU’s Brenna Brosam received a yellow card, while Tech’s Cassie Taylor and Jen Rose were each also issued yellow cards.
In postgame comments, head coach Tom Stone spoke very highly of his team’s play in the game.
“The disappointment is only compounded by the fact that we played as well as we did against a very, very good team,” Stone said.
Stone was complimentary to the Horned Frogs on a hard-fought victory but expressed great pride in his team’s effort in keeping TCU at bay throughout most of the game.
“You could have gotten absolutely TCU’d like several teams in our league have this year and be chasing your tail for 90 minutes and walk off with your tail between your legs and really demoralized,” Stone said, “but fortunately, we played well.”
The Red Raiders finish the regular season 11-5-2 overall and 4-4-1 in conference play.
They play their first Big 12 tournament game on Sunday against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (9-6-2, 4-3-1), a team they tied in Lubbock earlier in the season. The game will be live streamed on ESPN+.
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