Texas Tech Athletics
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Texas Edges No. 16 Texas Tech in Penalty Kicks
November 05, 2014 | Women's Soccer
The Red Raiders fell in penalty kicks Wednesday to Texas at the Big 12 Championship. Texas Tech will now wait until Monday to hear its postsesaon fate during the NCAA Selection Show that will air at 3:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Nov. 5, 2014
Officially, the match will be recorded as a draw after the two teams finished tied 1-1 after regulation and two overtime periods. The Red Raiders are now 14-3-2 this season while Texas moves to 10-7-3 overall.
The Longhorns, by virtue of the victory in penalty kicks, will advance to the semifinal round where No. 1 seed West Virginia awaits after the Mountaineers scored a 2-1 victory over TCU earlier in the day.
"Texas is a really tough team to break down," Tech head coach Tom Stone said. "Their keeper (Abby Smith) played well and our keeper (Lauren Watson) played well. A lot of times games like this go to overtime and penalty kicks. It went there today and then we had them in penalties and let it get away at the end."
Meagan McCullough connected on Texas Tech's lone goal in regulation as the sophomore found the back of the net just after halftime off a liner from just outside the box in the 53rd minute.
It was the second goal of the season for McCullough, who gathered a failed clearance by Texas just outside the box and fired to the right post past goalkeeper Abby Smith. McCullough's only other goal this season came in the season opener against Oral Roberts.
The goal tied the match for the Red Raiders after Texas struck late in the first half off the foot of Chantale Campbell, her fourth goal this season. Campbell's goal was set up by a Tech foul just outside the box.
The free kick struck Tech defender Jaelene Hinkle and went straight to a waiting Campbell, who went left post to give the Longhorns a 1-0 break at the break. Tech is now 2-1-2 when trailing at the half this season.
"The whole game for us came down to the first half," Stone said. "We did not play well in the first half at all. I thought our second half was pretty typical of how we've played down the stretch - hungry, aggressive and first to the ball. We scored a phenomenal goal from Meagan McCullough and it was our game to win from that point."
The Red Raiders, helped by the wind at their back in the second half, had several chances to pull ahead in the final 35 minutes as Janine Beckie, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, snuck behind the Texas defense on multiple occasions.
Beckie finished with three shot attempts for a Red Raider attack that recorded fewer shots than its opponent for just the fifth time this season. Texas finished with an 18-9 advantage, thanks in part to a 9-1 lead in the first half alone.
Beckie gave Tech an early 1-0 lead in penalty kicks as she went to the upper left post. Hinkle and Erin Inman both followed with shots to almost the same exact spot, giving the Red Raiders a 3-2 lead through three rounds.
Texas managed to tie the match in the fourth set of attempts as Alli Murphy missed just left of the net. Rebekah O'Brien and Caity Heap both connected from there in sudden death before Hannah Devine found the crossbar, allowing Texas to take a 6-5 victory.
The Red Raiders, despite falling in the shootout, will still be highly favored to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship as Tech is currently 10th in the ratings percentage index (RPI) poll that is widely used to determine postseason selections and seeding.
Tech will learn its postseason fate next Monday afternoon during the NCAA Selection Show that is set to air at 3:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
