THIBODAUX, La. – It had been over a year in the making, but the Tarleton Women’s Soccer program officially took the pitch for the first time on Thursday. And what a match it was.
Midfielder Adriana Alonso-Gomez scored Tarleton’s first ever goal in the 70th minute to even the match 1-1, which ended as the final in the Texans’ draw against North Dakota State. It was a fairly deep shot just over the goalkeeper’s outstretched fingers that climaxed the Texans’ comeback effort, putting them at 0-0-1 on the young season.
Call it nerves, call it inexperience, call it whatever you like, but the match couldn’t have started worse for Tarleton in Thibodaux, Louisiana, on site of Nicholls at the Nicholls Soccer Complex. Besides a weather delay that pushed the match start time 100 minutes, just over 30 seconds into the contest, North Dakota State’s Paige Goaley scored to welcome the Texans into NCAA Division I competition.
The Texans, who hold 16 freshmen and six transfers on the squad, didn’t fold – far from it. Tarleton kept battling, getting four shots in the first half, fending off an offsides call and a yellow card, shown to Alonso-Gomez in the 35th minute.
The Bison led 1-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Tarleton had the first two shot attempts, and on its third, Alonso-Gomez connected from distance. The Texans held off North Dakota State from there to earn the draw.
Each team had eight shots on the match, with Texan goalkeeper Mikayla Kendall finishing with three saves. Tarleton’s first starting group was Kendall, Alonso-Gomez, Avery Harr, Macie Johnson, Kaitlyn Flanagan, Macie Witter, Jaycie Bass, Macy Hellwig, Rylee Low, Kiki Baurmann, and Sydney Rouillard.
Tarleton will stay in Louisiana for its next match, set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT against Nicholls.
Be the first to comment