ROCKWALL, Texas – Senior Lauren Neely's goal under six minutes into overtime gave Texas Woman's a 1-0 victory over rival Texas A&M-Commerce in a key conference matchup Thursday that moves them into second place in the league standings. The shutout extends TWU's winning streak to five and unbeaten streak to six.
TWU and A&M-Commerce started the day in third and fourth, respectively, in the Lone Star rankings, with only one weekend left in the regular season. With key seedings on the line, both teams were looking to get on the board first. An aggressive play late in the first half gave TWU a free kick that led to back-to-back shots by sophomore Haley Ward, which was blocked by a Lion defender, and senior Libby Murphy, who sent it just wide. But the game was scoreless at the intermission
The stalemate continued in the second half, starting off with a save by freshman Jazmine Maxwell that prevented the Lions from scoring. The Pioneers seemed set to stay defensive early in the period after blocking a second shot from TAMU-C, but by the 70th minute had regained control and triggered an offensive blitz that added another seven shots to their total. Good saves and blocks by the Lions kept the Pioneers off the board.
"We limited their shots but they were still dangerous with their throw-ins," TWU head coach Babak Abouzar said. "Our defense did a good job of getting in between their throws, though, especially in our defensive third."
Deadlocked through 90 minutes of regulation, TWU (10-5-2, 7-2-2 LSC) had the advantage on offense, putting up 16 shots to six from Commerce (8-7-0, 5-5-0 LSC).
"With the way that they played, it just takes one goal, and our players were aware and prepared for it and helped us get our sixth straight shutout," Abouzar said. "The last team to score on us was actually Commerce."
Texas Woman's came out swinging in overtime, with Neely taking the first shot at three seconds in but getting blocked by the Lions' defense. Neely wasn't done, however, and at 95:45 senior Lauren Bradford stole a pass between Commerce players and fed the ball to Neely, who deftly beat the keeper with her shot for the game-winning goal.
"I think that we tired them out and took advantage of a miscues they had in the back and countered them quickly," Abouzar said. "Bradford had won the ball and played it into Neely, and Neely had a one-on-one with the goalie and had the composure to finish it."
The goal is Neely's first of the season. She finished with a game-high five shots and it was her one shot on goal that was the difference maker. TWU tallied 19 shots, five on goal, to Commerce's seven shots, three on goal.
"I think our whole back line did a really good job of dealing with their long balls and disrupting their attack," Abouzar said. "(Sophomore Emma) Green and Bradford came in and made some good impact and really changed the course of the game."
Maxwell finished with three saves and a school-record ninth shutout.
This victory puts the Pioneers just two points behind LSC leader No. 19 West Texas A&M leading into Sunday's match against MSU Texas at 1 p.m. at Pioneer Soccer Park. Sunday is also Senior Day for Neely, Bradford, Murphy, Allie Chapman, and Lucero Chavez.
"I'm just looking forward to honoring these seniors and the hard work they put into this program on and off the field," Abouzar said.
The result from the Angelo State-West Texas match on Friday along with Sunday's result against Midwestern will determine where TWU will finish in the regular season standings.
