Xoilac News - Latest Sports News & Updates

Texas Tech soccer used a dominant second half, scoring three goals in the final 45, to beat Denver 4-0 in their exhibition game on Thursday. A different player scored each of the four goals split between two underclassmen newcomers (Emma Torres and Sophie Neves) and two upperclassmen returners (Kaitlyn Giametta and Taylor Zdrojewski.) This game […]

This game marked the eleventh time these two teams have met up in a preseassn exhibition since 2013 with Tech’s four goals being the most since their 4-1 win in 2015. No more than two goals were scored in the other eight games, in what is typically a tightly contested matchup between two programs that know each other well.

“Don’t let the four goal margin fool you,” said head coach Tom Stone following the game. “Denver’s a really good team, extremely well coached. I’ve said it for two years in a row now, they are fit, and they come after you, and you need that when you’re coming out of preseason, because we’ve been going against each other for a month, right?…But the opportunities we had to score, we let two or three get away early. Then the four we scored were really good goals, and that’s nice, because sometimes when you know you miss a pass here or there, you start to think about what’s ahead. The team could get bogged down, but they just kept going forward.”

Texas Tech Stat Leaders

Kaitlyn Giametta, Sr. – 4 SH, 3 SOG, 1 G, 31 min

Emma Torres, Fr. – 2 SH, 1 SOG, 1 G, 34 min

Sophie Neves, So. – 1 SH, 1 SOG, 1 G, 26 min

Taylor Zdrojewski, RS-Jr. – 1 SH, 1 SOG, 1 G, 47 min

Sam Courtwright, RS-So. – 4 SH, 1 A, 35 min

Faith Nguyen, Sr. – 0 GA, 2 Saves, 78 min

How It Happened

A roster that returns 84% of it’s goal scoring production from a season ago, on paper at least, seems like a team with great depth on the attacking end. But you don’t know until you see it on the field and while no one but those in person could actually in fact see this match – the numbers say that attack was flying early with five shots in the first 10 minutes.

As Stone noted however, Tech misfired on a few of those opportunities, including a penalty kick, and started to get a bit frazzled. He felt they let Denver get the upperhand for a bit in the first half but was happy with how they regrouped to respond. The first of that response coming when a corner off the foot of Macy Blackburn eventually found it’s way to the feet of true freshman Emma Torres who put the team up 1-0 with 15 minutes to play in the first half.

“Probably the goal of the game was Emma Torres lefty into the far side netting,” said Stone. “She’s been doing that since the day she got here. She’s been scoring goals in our practice just like that. But to do in a real game when you’re only barely 18. Impressive.”

A goal that nice and Torres herself couldn’t even see it go in due to the defense that fell into her line of sight.

“I kind of just thought, it was an open shot so I took a touch and I tried to bring it around,” explained Torres. “I didn’t really get to see it much, because the girl kind of took me out. But I think it was a good.”

LOL. Yes Emma, it was good.

That seemed like all the team needed to settle in, well that and a firm halftime speech from Stone telling his team to calm down and “get ahold of the ball again.” Message received as the Red Raiders stormed out of half scoring only nine minutes in on a Sophie Neves header off a Alana Harry cross in.

“I just saw Lana, she was going down the side, and I was like, Lana put it in. Put it in,” outlined the Alabama transfer Neves. “So I watched her cross it in, then just flicked it. And the keeper couldn’t get it. So it was great.”

The final two goals of the game came from two veteran returners on the team. First was Kaitlyn Giametta finishing off a great pass in from Sam Courtwright. And then Taylor Zdrojewski capped off the game with an unassisted laser to push the margin to 4-0.

In total Tech dominated the attack outshooting Denver 23-3 and earning eight corners versus their one. Two of their three shots were on goal however and returning All-Big 12 goal keeper Faith Nguyen was more than up to the task to make the saves. Stone admitted the backline, like the entire team, is a work in progress but he said it was nice to have Blackburn and Kylie Bahr back together again out there and was happy with what all of the center backs gave them as well.

“I think this whole weekend is about the team coming together, getting a good opponent, dealing with something at halftime,” expressed Stone. “Feeling again what it feels like when a game matters…I think we come out of it knowing we played well enough to win four nil against a good team, but not well enough to beat a really good San Diego State team if we don’t get a little bit better this week.”

What’s Next?

Texas Tech will return to Lubbock for a week of final preparations before their season officially begins on August 14 at San Diego State. This is the first of three games in California during the month of August for the Red Raiders with their home opener on August 17 versus Youngstown State mixed in.

The teams full schedule can be found here.