Women's Soccer 9/22/2012 7:30:00 PM

Women’s Soccer Sets School Record, Wins Fifth Straight

Box Score LAREDO, Texas – The TAMIU women’s soccer team is officially off to the best start in program history.

Since moving to Division II in 2006, the most wins ever accumulated in a single season by the Dustdevils was four. Saturday afternoon the Dustdevils eclipsed that mark by downing Oklahoma Christian University 3-1, their fifth straight win. TAMIU’s record now stands at 5-1 on the season with UT-Permian Basin next on the schedule.

Freshman Karina Garcia led TAMIU scoring two goals on four shots. She now leads the team with four total goals on the season.

After the game, Garcia said the win was another big stepping stone for the team.

“We try not to look at the value of each game… we just want to get the win. It doesn’t matter who plays well or who scores the goals, as long as we’re ahead when it’s over. They were a very physical team and the refs were letting us play, so we had to stay tough and we did.”

Jessica Parker also got on the board scoring her third goal of the year in addition to assisting on Garcia’s first goal. Sam “The General” Zerelli and Claudia De Lara each had quality outings as well, finishing with one assist apiece. Keeper Aissa Pedraza snapped her streak of four consecutive shutouts, but improved to 5-1 on the season after racking up four saves in 90 minutes of play.

The Dustdevils finished with 18 shots compared to the Eagles 17, but the stifling TAMIU defense held OCU to only five shots on goal while TAMIU tallied 11.

Garcia got the scoring started in the 11^th minute of the first half, taking a pass from Parker and firing a shot that deflected off the keeper’s fingertips and into the net.

Parker gave the Dustdevils a 2-0 lead just 12 minutes later, taking a beautiful ball from Zerelli and beating the keeper to her left side.

Addie Ryan pulled the Eagles back to within one goal in the 27^th minute, catching Pedraza out of position after a scrum in the box.

It wasn’t until the 70^th minute when TAMIU put the game out of reach, after Claudia De Lara sent a well placed pass up the right flank finding Garcia in stride. The freshman outran her defender into the box and bested the keeper yet again with a confident strike.

The Dustdevils will now begin preparations for a two game road trip, starting with UT-Permian Basin on October 27 followed by McMurry on the 29th.

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