The No. 25 Texas Tech soccer team got back in the win column with a dominating performance against Iowa State, taking down the Cyclones, 3-0, on a brisk Sunday afternoon at the John Walker Soccer Complex.
Freshman forward Jade King posted her first multi-goal match of her young collegiate career, scoring the first two tallies in the 15th & 26th minutes for the Red Raiders (8-2-2, 1-1-0). Junior defender Rebekah O’Brien put the icing on the cake in the 57th minute with the third goal to help put Iowa State (7-3-0, 1-1-0) away.
“Iowa State was in the low 20’s in the RPI, so beating a team that highly ranked in the RPI helps us in the mathematical side of things,” head coach Tom Stone said. “With this team so highly ranked, we had to have these points from them. I assume this will scoot us back up and will put us back in pretty good shape.
“That’s the thing when you feel like your back is up against the wall a little bit after a 0-1 start, you look at your team like, ‘Alright, I know what last year’s team would’ve done, they would’ve stepped it up.’ But I hadn’t seen this team in that situation yet. So, I was pleased and excited about how they responded. They responded with some swagger, some attitude and played really well.”
The Cyclones logged the first shot of the day, just two minutes into the match. It would be last for Iowa State until the 36th minute, as the Red Raiders shut down any other threat of offense and controlled the pace of play for most of the first half.
Tech fired three shots, two on goal, sandwiching in a corner kick over the next eight minutes, before finding the back of the net in the 15’. As the Red Raiders moved the ball around in their own defensive zone, junior defender Cassie Conarty launched the ball down the field, where King was streaking past the Cyclone defense. Once she controlled the ball, King chipped it past a defender and sliced it to the top-left corner of the ISU net to give Tech a 1-0 lead.
It was King’s first goal since Sept. 4 against Abilene Christian, but she was far from done for the day. After a little back-and-forth passing between senior defender Meagan McCullough and freshman midfielder Jordie Harr in the attacking zone, Harr found a lane and sent a cross to King, where she made contact with the ball and sent it past the diving Cyclone keeper for a 2-0 Red Raider lead.
King’s two scores made her the first Red Raider since Harr in the season opener against Missouri State to record a multi-goal performance. King leads the team with five goals this season.
“We encouraged her today and said, ‘Listen, you’re going to have a higher work rate to hunt for the ball and get open because now people know who you are,’” Stone said about King. “She was really active today. Active means more touches, more touches means more dangerous and hopefully, with her finish ability, dangerous means more goals and today it did. The first one was spectacular: chopped the kid twice and made a left-footed shot to the upper corner. That was a great way to start the game and I think when your top scorer scores, everyone is inspired by that.”
Tech racked up nine shots in the first frame, compared to ISU’s two. The Red Raiders also earned four corners, while keeping the Cyclones out of a position to pick up such an opportunity in the first half. Tech would finish with 15 shots, while Iowa State wrapped the day with nine.
O’Brien joined in on the fun in the 57th minute, after a yellow card on Iowa State’s Kourtney Camy set up a free kick for Tech just outside the Cyclone box. O’Brien lined up for the shot and sent a dagger to the upper 90 of the left side of the goal for her third strike of the season, increasing the lead to 3-0.
“Becks was awesome at center back, Jordan Duke was great at holding mid, as was Carly,” Stone said. “And of course for Rebekah it was a complete game: gets the shutout and scores a bomb of a goal, which is why Rebekah was our MVP today. Not taking anything away from Jade King for scoring twice, but Becks was the big timer today for us.
“It’s all technique,” Stone added about O’Brien’s strong strikes. “She has great ball-striking technique and has had that long before she came to Tech. We’ve encouraged it, she’s polished it here and she’s more powerful now, but since the first day I recruited her I was like, ‘Wow, this kid can strike a ball.’ Now, she’s doing it at the highest level of college soccer and putting balls in that keepers just can’t defend.”
Senior goalkeeper Lauren Watson put together a four-save shutout in net for Tech on Sunday. Her four stops moved her to No. 4 all-time at Texas Tech in career saves with 216. In doing so, it was also her fifth shutout of the year, moving her just 4.5 away from the all-time lead in the scarlet & black record books with 24.5.
Sunday’s victory marked the fourth-straight win for Texas Tech over Iowa State, with the Red Raiders outscoring the Cyclones 13-3 over that stretch.
Tech will have the next week off before returning to action on Friday, Oct. 7, at home against Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. on FSN.
