Texas Tech Soccer Finishes Undefeated Spring Season
April 24, 2016 | Women's Soccer
Youthful Texas Tech team finishes spring with perfect 5-0 record with win over TCU.
April 23, 2016
Fort Worth, Texas - Texas Tech soccer capped an undefeated spring season with 2-1 victory over TCU in Fort Worth to close out the 2016 spring season Saturday afternoon.
The Horned Frogs took an early 1-0 lead midway through the first half of Saturday's contest, but it was not long before the Red Raider offense would spring to life.
Just ten minutes after the TCU goal, Gwennie Puente turned in midfield, and after a long run through the TCU defense, slammed home her fourth goal in five spring games from the top of the box.
The two Big 12 foes would trade punches down the stretch with Tech seemingly playing on its heels, and for stretches, looked as though it might be TCU who would break through for the deciding goal.
"They know we like to play out of the back and they threw the kitchen sink at us to keep us from it," head Texas Tech soccer coach Tom Stone said. "Thankfully it did not result in too many dangerous chances and we ended up getting the winner ourselves from another Jade King goal."
King, who graduated early from high school in Minnesota to join Tech soccer this spring, led the 2015 Big 12 Champions in goals with five goals in five spring appearances.
"Jade took her goal well and learned a lot from this game," Stone said. "TCU is a team on the rise. Eric Bell and Ryan Higginbotham have done a great job getting this team to where it is today. We are thankful she (King) came early to get all this experience."
Texas Tech ended the spring with wins over West Texas A&M, ACU, Rice, LSU and TCU to end the spring with an unblemished 5-0 record. A feat made more impressive by the fact that Texas Tech graduated seven seniors, including three players who have joined the NWSL to play professionally. The Red Raiders relied heavily on young talent through the spring season, including starting eight freshmen, and one incoming freshman, to conclude the spring slate against Big 12 and SEC competition.
"These young ones have really been impressive," Stone said. "They saw the standard all last year and are working overtime to keep it rolling for us. Despite clearly having a lot to work on before next fall, this group has grown considerably over the last four months."
Needless to say, the future looks bright for the Red Raiders as they prepare to defend their Big 12 Championship in the 2016 season. Follow all of the action as the season approaches by following Texas Tech soccer on Twitter at @TexasTechSoccer.
