Women's Soccer 9/21/2012 2:04:00 AM

Women’s Soccer Ties School Record with Win

Box Score LAREDO, Texas – The TAMIU women’s soccer team is only five games into their 2012 campaign, but already they are on the verge of making history.

Since making the move to Division II in 2006, the most wins ever recorded in a season by the Dustdevils is four (2006, 2010). Thursday afternoon TAMIU equaled that mark in a dominating 4-0 rout over Newman University, the Dustdevils’ fourth consecutive shutout win. TAMIU now stands at 4-1 on the season and a perfect 3-0 in conference play

The Dustdevils offensive attack was relentless, producing three goals in the opening period. Alyssa Perez, who terrorized defenders all game long from the left flank, set up the first goal in the 16^th minute with a nifty cross to a waiting Karina Garcia who buried her second goal of the season.

In the 29^th minute it was Crystal Zapien from the opposite side, sending a perfect ball in to Valeria Jaramillo who made a sliding effort to beat the Newman keeper and give the Dustdevils a 2-0 lead.

Just before the end of the opening half, feisty freshman Kim Garcia took a well-placed pass from Cynthia Cervantes and would not be denied, sending a shot past the keeper from 10 yards out to make it a 3-0 game.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, senior Whitney Fullmer gave the Dustdevils their final tally of the game, outdueling a Newman defender just past midfield and then outrunning the Newman defense easily beating the keeper in a 1-on-1.

Aissa Pedraza and Kateling Jennings split time at goalkeeper for TAMIU, each contributing three saves to the shutout win.

When asked after the game how he felt about watching the team jump out to the best start in program history, Head Coach Claudio Arias looked out at the field and saw children playing and said with a laugh, “Like that!”

“I think every coach would like to feel what I am feeling right now,” said Arias. “It’s been hard over the last two years and we have experienced a lot of frustration. But now we see that the hard work that the girls and the coaching staff have put in is finally starting to pay off. The players deserve all the credit in the world – we coach them the best that we can, but they do the work and they are executing exactly as we have told them. We were aggressive the full 90 minutes today, we kept good pressure on the ball, and our reserves came in and did their jobs.”

Although the girls are obviously clicking on the pitch, Coach Arias says the connection for this team runs deeper.

“They are a team off the field is well, I couldn’t ask for more. Our goal now is to stay humble and stay focused as we prepare for the heart of our conference schedule.”

The Dustdevils will step out of conference play this weekend, hosting provisional Heartland Conference member Oklahoma Christian on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Dustdevil Field. The game versus Oklahoma Christian will count only towards the Dustdevils overall record and will not affect their conference standing.

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