Canyon, Texas – Friday's Lone Star Conference opener between Texas Woman's and #25 West Texas A&M was another classic battle between these two rivals, but it was the Lady Buffs that registered the 2-0 shutout and handed the Pioneers their first road loss of the year.
TWU (3-4-0, 0-1-0) had trouble organizing anything offensive at first but substitute Hannah Schneider seemed to bring a spark off the bench as she helped the Pioneers maintain possession of the ball. In the 30th minute, senior Libby Murphy's shot was blocked and set up a corner kick but TWU couldn't make anything of it. With more pressure on the WT defense, TWU earned another corner kick in the 34th minute but could not take advantage of the set piece.
"Playing on their turf is a challenge and the wind is difficult," Head coach Babak Abouzar said. "The last 15-20 minutes of the first half, we were really playing well and were executing. Then we had mental lapse in the back and it cost us a goal."
With all the momentum that TWU had going its way, it was WT that got on the board first. In the waning minutes of the first half, Khaline Jacob got around Brittany Jones, and then juked freshman goalkeeper Jazmine Maxwell to slot the ball into the open net at 43:52 for her conference-leading seventh goal of the season.
The second half was a surge of Pioneers on the attack. There were dangerous combinations between sophomore Haley Ward, sophomore Jazmine Navarro and Murphy that kept the Lady Buff defense busy. TWU just could not find that opportunity to finish and were stifled on shots on goal.
"In the second half, we knew we had the wind and we made our adjustments," Abouzar said. "Our speed of play needs to be a little but quicker though. The play the game when it's on turf is a little different. You don't have the cushion of the grass. But I feel we really had some good moments that put them on them on their heels in the second half."
WT (6-1-0, 1-0-0), the preseason favorite to win the Lone Star Conference title, used several different weapons on the Pioneer defense. A cross from the left side found Calista Cordero who beat her defender and slotted the ball past Maxwell at 69:18 for the 2-0 lead that held out for the Lady Buffs.
"We just weren't able to get on the end of it," Abouzar said. "It was good to see the fighting spirit of our players, and our bench was really hyped and brought a lot of energy. I'm disappointed in the loss, but the emotions and the morale of this team are really good. We need this in a long conference season."
Maxwell, in only her second start in her collegiate career, had two huge saves for TWU at 73:44 when Hannah Kelley-Lusk beat the Pioneer midfield, streaked past her defender and faced the keeper one on one. Maxwell came out to the top of the box, blocked Lusk's first shot, and then saved her second shot off the rebound as she went to the ground.
"I could tell that her confidence was a little low after the DBU game, but we talked before tonight's game and I told her that I knew she had this, and she showed that confidence tonight making huge saves in both the first and the second half," Abouzar added. "It was so positive to see."
TWU will regroup for another LSC tilt on Sunday at 1 p.m. Central Time at Eastern New Mexico.
