PORTALES, New Mexico – Texas Woman's (3-4-1, 0-1-1) maintained better possession of the ball Sunday afternoon at Eastern New Mexico (3-2-2, 1-0-1) and took more shots on goal, but could not score, with the game ending in a 0-0 tie.
"I definitely thought that we were the better team and it showed throughout the game that we were, but we just didn't have anything to show for it on the scoreboard," TWU head coach Babak Abouzar said.
The first half of play saw TWU finding a number of opportunities to break through on offense while stifling any ENMU attack. An early opportunity presented itself when sophomore Haley Ward was fouled inside the box setting a penalty kick in the 22nd minute. But Greyhounds keeper Taylor Jackson saved senior Libby Murphy's shot and kept the Pioneers off the board.
"We messed up on the penalty kick, but the girls kept fighting back and were resilient," Abouzar said. "The effort was there 100 percent, but the decision making needs to be a little better and we need to make sure in different scenarios we know what to do."
TWU increased its attack in the second half and tested ENMU's keeper with seven shots but failed to put any in the back of the net, pushing the match into overtime.
With both squads desperate to sink the golden goal, the action got even more aggressive in the overtime periods and fouls continued to add up. Ward, currently second in shots for the Lone Star Conference, and senior Lauren Neely each made good attempts on goal, but time ran out.
"We wanted to just keep running at them," Abouzar said. "We kept running at their defenders trying to tire them out, which we found some success doing, but the final piece wasn't there."
The Pioneers, who stop a two-game losing streak, took a total of 13 shots, eight on goal, to the Greyhounds' nine, while both squads totaled 20 fouls and four corners each. Ward, Neely and freshman Kaylee Rekieta each had two shots, but Ward was the only to manage to get both on goal.
Texas Woman's is back at home at Pioneer Soccer Park Friday facing off against Angelo State (4-3-1, 2-0-0) at 7 p.m. in another Lone Star Conference match.
