Ole Miss Defeats Texas Tech Soccer 1-0 in Lubbock on Late Goal

The Texas Tech soccer team fell in a physical battle with Ole Miss, 1-0, at the John Walker Soccer Complex in front of 1,275 fans on Friday night.

“This was a brutal result obviously because of how much of the game we had,” head coach Tom Stone said after the match.  “Having said that, we have no one to blame but ourselves – chances and end line service all evening but not much quality on the final pass or shot.”

Ole Miss (2-0) netted the only goal of the match in the 84^th minute by Rafaelle Souza with the assist coming from Erin Emerson.

“Ole Miss did well to hang in there battling and patiently waiting their golden chance and when it happened it was a great finish form their best player,” Stone said. “Lesson to our team is that when you have a team on the ropes – you have to put them away or it can come back to haunt you and tonight it did.”

Taylor Lytle had a huge opportunity in the 67^th minute with a breakaway. Lytle made a move and put a shot towards the far post but Missouri’s Alley Ronaldi deflected it to make the save.

“Uncharacteristically, we rushed shots when a touch of composure would have won the game for us,” said Stone. “It’s a shame we wasted such a great performances from a core group of players.”

Haley Haagsma won almost every header and challenge on the night and showed that her comeback from ACL surgery a year ago is almost complete.

“Tremendous performance tonight and it’s great to see Haley regain her level,” Stone said. “ We will rely on her again on Sunday to set the tone for us at holding mid.”

Jessica Fuston and Lytle led the team with five and four shots a piece tonight, respectively.

“No time to whine about it with a huge game with Saint Mary’s looming large on Sunday,” Stone said. “This game just got bigger and we will need to rebound quickly.”

The Red Raiders (2-1) dominated for a majority of the night outshooting Ole Miss, 17-10 and having a 7-1 edge in corner kids.  The 13 first half shots were the most dating back to mid season in 2010.

Texas Tech will play Saint Mary’s on Sunday, Aug 28 at 7 p.m. at the John Walker Soccer Complex.