Women's Soccer 10/4/2012 11:17:00 PM

Women’s Soccer Suffers First Conference Loss

Box Score LAREDO, Texas – Playing in honor of Maria Elena Delgado in their inaugural “Kicks for the Cure” breast cancer awareness game, the TAMIU women’s soccer team dropped their first conference match of the season falling to Dallas Baptist 3-1 Thursday night at Dustdevil Field.

The Dustdevils’ offense struggled to mount an effective attack against the Patriots defense, managing only five total shots and only one shot on goal. DBU on the other hand peppered TAMIU keeper Aissa Pedraza with 18 total shots, nine of which were on goal.

Karina Garcia was the only Dustdevil able to break through the Patriots back lines, scoring her team leading sixth goal of the season in the 10^th minute. Freshman defender Paige Johnson finished with two shots in the match, while Kim Garcia and Kirsten Jennings each added one.

Head Coach Claudio Arias said the physicality and pace of the Patriots ultimately proved to be the determining factor.

“I don’t think we were quite ready to handle this kind of tempo. We played with a lot of heart but not with much tactical awareness. I’m not completely disappointed because we were a lot closer tonight than in years past. I was pleased with the way we came out in the second half, but the goal they scored just a few minutes in took away all of our momentum. We will make some adjustments and we will get a better result when we play them over there. In this league we don’t have time to dwell, we have to get ready for Saturday and hopefully we can learn from tonight’s mistakes.”

The Patriots were led by Dixie Kurrus who tallied two goals. Lea Sedwick scored the game’s opening goal and Lindsey Eccles added two assists.

The Patriots wasted little time, scoring two goals within the first ten minutes of the opening whistle. In the 9^th minute Sedwick took a pass from Eccles and fired a shot from 10 yards out that left TAMIU keeper Aissa Pedraza with no chance for a save. Just over a minute later Eccles and Kurrus played a nifty 1-2 in the box, leaving Kurrus all alone for an easy goal to put DBU up 2-0.

The Dustdevils were able to answer quickly, as Karina Garcia out battled a DBU defender one-on-one after a free kick, then dribbled around keeper Kerry Edwards and finished with a confident strike in the 11th minute.

TAMIU came out more aggressive in the second half, but a quick DBU goal took the wind out of their sails. Kurrus found the back of the net from well outside the box, on a ball that got caught up in the wind on an attempted cross.

The loss drops the Dustdevils overall record to 7-2 on the season and 4-1 in conference play. Saturday afternoon they will look for a bounce-back win, hosting the no. 3 St. Edward’s Hilltoppers, who are coming off a 2-0 win over St. Mary’s. Kick off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

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