Texas Tech Athletics
Oklahoma State
Penalty Kick Spoils Texas Tech's Senior Night
October 16, 2009 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 16, 2009
LUBBOCK, Texas - Annika Niemer connected on a penalty kick in the 79th minute to propel Oklahoma State to a 2-1 victory over Texas Tech Friday in front of a capacity crowd of 1,728 fans at the John Walker Soccer Complex.
The loss is the third-consecutive for the Red Raiders, who are now 8-7-1 overall and 3-3-1 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State improves to 9-7 overall and 3-5 in conference.
The Red Raiders were without midfielder Taylor Lytle and defender Jaclyn Dozier in the match as the two were sidelined due to illness. Lytle entered this weekend as the NCAA leader in assists with 11.
"I think both teams desperately needed the points, and they both played that way," Tech head coach Tom Stone said. "We were wondering how we would respond without our quarterback, Taylor Lytle, and how we would play without her, and I thought the team answered that question very well. They played hard and were in it to the end. It's unfortunate that we got beat on the penalty (kick), but I was proud of the way we played in the second half."
Tech played from behind the majority of the match as Niemeier connected on the match's opening goal in the 10th minute off a sliding pass from Colleen Doughery.
Without their leading offensive weapon in Lytle, the Red Raiders struggled to mount many shot attempts in the first half as OSU maintained an 8-3 shot advantage en route to a 1-0 lead at the break.
Tech would respond and come out firing in the second half, however, with Conner Williams firing to the top of the net 45 seconds into the period, but OSU goalkeeper Adrianna Franch swatted the shot attempt over the goal for a Tech corner.
Dawn Ward tied the match in the 72nd minute with her team-leading 12th goal of the season. After Conner Williams fired a corner kick into the box, Ward took the remains of an Emmie Bennett header pass and headed the ball to the far post, putting the match at a goal each with 18 minutes remaining.
Oklahoma State would find itself with the ball in Tech territory soon after, though, and would draw a foul inside the box, causing the penalty kick. Niemeier slid the ball to the right post just past a diving Colleen Pitts to score the game-winning goal for the Cowgirls.
The Red Raiders attempted to rally and retie the match immediately after, but OSU was able to withstand two Tech corner kicks and a Tiffini Smith shot attempt to hold on to the win.
"The last 20 minutes is all Texas Tech," Stone said. "We're all over them, we're in their box, it's corner kicks, it's fouls, it's restarts, and give them credit they held us off, but not for a lack of trying on our part because we were all over them the last 20 minutes. It would have been nice to send the match into overtime."
Ward has now had a goal in each of Tech's last four matches and has moved into sole possession of fourth on the school's single-season goal chart. She had two shots in the match.
Williams and Smith added six and four shots, respectively, on the Tech attack, while Pitts collected three saves over all 90 minutes.
The 1,728 in attendance broke the John Walker Soccer Complex attendance record for the third time this season. Tech's previous high at the second-year complex was 1,256 earlier this year against Baylor. The school attendance record for any home match was also shattered as the previous high was 1,700 set against Notre Dame in 2004.
For the first time all season, the Red Raiders will rest Sunday as it is their open date on the conference schedule. Tech ends the regular season with three-consecutive road matches, beginning next Friday (Oct. 23) at Texas.
