STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton State women’s soccer team drew, 1-1, against ULM in its season opener in front of a large and very loud crowd on Thursday night at the Tarleton Soccer Complex.
For the second straight season, the Texans tied in its opener to begin, 0-0-1. ULM also opens, 0-0-1.
“Proud of the effort tonight.” said head coach Pete Cuadrado. “A few things to clean up and that tie turns into a win. ULM is a good team; they force you to be disciplined. We will learn from tonight and get ready for Sunday.”
Avery Harr knocked in the first goal of the year in the 24th minute after a deflection from an Adriana Alonso-Gomez corner kick. All five of her shots landed on goal giving her the new program record for shots on goal in a game.
Mikayla Kendall also broke her previous record of eight saves in a game notching 10 against the Warhawks.
In the first 15 minutes of the first half, both teams held the other to very little offensive attacks with the ball occupying the middle of the pitch, heavily. After a Warhawks shot and Kendall save in the first minute of the contest, the next shot of the game didn’t come until the 18th minute with a Warhawk shot off target. The two teams combined for just two shots in the first 22 minutes of play.
In the 23rd minute, the Texans had an incredible scoring chance. Jenaya Brown started the action with a shot that was blocked that deflected back out to Harr. Harr fired from five feet out to the bottom left where Mickaela Leal made a diving safe but was unable to corral the ball. Jaycie Bass gathered the loose ball and rattled the post on her attempt to break the tie. Macy Hellwig got the fourth shot off for the Texans in a span of 10 seconds, but it was wide right.
Just two minutes later, Alonso-Gomez started the next scoring chance for Tarleton State with a corner kick. Her ball fell into the box where it was deflected by a Warhawk to their goalkeeper. After a ricochet off her gloves, Harr was a few feet out to hammer in the first goal of the Texans’ second season.
ULM controlled the ball in their offensive attacking zone for three consecutive minutes starting in the 38th. The Warhawks tried to punch through with a responding goal, but Kendall was there to make three impressive saves and keep the Texans in front heading into the half.
Tarleton State came out of the half on a mission for an insurance goal. In the first four minutes after the break, Harr and Rylee Low recorded a shot within 40 seconds of one another. Goalie substitute Alexa Castro made two goal-saving saves to keep the Tarleton lead at 1-0.
The Warhawks’ attack in the 57th minute was fought off by the Texan defense on four shots, three corner kicks and a save by Kendall. Kendall sent the ball to the ULM attack zone after the save to end the threat.
Neither team was able to get any threatening attacks with just four shots on goal in the next 30 minutes of action.
In the 89th minute, ULM broke the tie with a goal off a free kick from the left corner of the box. Lucia Lubato scored the tying goal assisted by Mara Grutkamp.
In the final five seconds of the match, Tarleton’s freshman speedster and Stephenville native, Victoria Cameron, streaked down the crowd side of the field in a one-one breakaway. With a second on the clock, she fired a shot from the right side about 18 feet out just over the crossbar as the horn sounded.
The Warhawks outshot the Texans 23-12 with an 11-6 advantage in shots on goal. Tarleton State notched 10 saves to ULM’s five.
After the match, the players were greeted by the youth that stayed for the entirety of the match and signed autographs on the poster schedules given away at the match.
Tarleton State will continue its three-game homestand with a Sunday matinee match against Texas A&M-Commerce. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+ with Kyle Crews on the call.
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