Fast start propels No. 25 Tech past YSU, 4-1

Sunday, August 17

Lubbock, Texas

7:40 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

2-0-0, 0-0-0

Youngstown State

0-2-0, 0-0-0

Youngstown St.

Texas Tech

Fast start propels No. 25 Tech past YSU, 4-1

August 18, 2025 | Women's Soccer

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For the second straight match Tech scored three times in the first 30 minutes

By: Andrew Stern

LUBBOCK, Texas – Behind two goals and an assist from forward Taylor Zdrojewski and a goal and an assist from Peyton Parsons, No. 25 Texas Tech Soccer cruised past Youngstown State 4-1 Sunday night at a soggy and damp John Walker Soccer Complex.

After heavy rain, wind and lighting delayed Sunday's home opener by nearly an hour, it was Texas Tech (2-0-0) that brought the early lighting using goals in the eighth, 12^th and 23rd minutes to race out to an early 3-0 lead.

In the win, Tech outshot Youngstown State (0-2-0) 38-2, and attempted 12 corners to the Penguins one.

The first strike for Tech came off a gorgeous one-two between two of the Red Raiders Preseason All-Big 12 selections, as Zdrojewski slotted attacking-mid Peyton Parsons for her first goal of the 2025 campaign, a left-footed strike past Youngstown State's Maya Naimoli. In the setback Naimoli was forced to make a career-high 11 saves.

Armed with the first goal, Tech quickly doubled its lead just two seconds into the 12th minute when center back Molly Skurcenski found Parsons in the middle of the field. Returning the favor to Zdrojewski, the Preseason Midfielder to Watch slipped a through ball to the Red Raider striker.

Taking just one touch to switch the ball from her left foot to her right, Zdrojewski calmy slipped the ball into the right-corner of the net for her team-leading second goal of the season.

Not satisfied with the two-goal lead, Tech continued to press forward in search of the knockout punch.

After 2023 All-American Sam Courtwright nearly gave the Red Raiders that ever-important third goal with five seconds left in the 21st minute, she succeeded just one minute and 54 seconds later when she ripped a deflected shot past Naimoli and into the bottom left-hand side of the vacant net. Despite being her seventh career goal, the strike was just Courtwright's second at Walker, as entering play tonight five of her first six goals came on the road.

The three-goal barrage gave Tech a 3-0 lead at the break for the second-straight contest.

After halftime, the Red Raiders continued to dominate possession, but were unable to find a fourth due in large part to the heroics from Naimoli.

Following a near fourth goal in the 69th minute was called back for offsides, the Red Raiders conceded their first goal of the 2025 season when a perfect cross from YSUs Chloe Weiland found a sliding Camille Bultel who ripped a shot past Tech goalkeeper Faith Ngyuen for the Penguins lone goal of the night.

Looking for the answer, the Red Raiders forced two more saves from Naimoli before the keeper made one of the few mistakes of the night when her dangerous pass was intercepted just outside the 18, by Zdrojewski who walked home her third goal of the season.

After scoring once and helping on a second goal in the opener, Zdrojewski tallied the brace with another assist on Sunday evening to run her early season point total to 11. After not scoring for the first 25 matches of her career, "Z" now has scored 13 times and recorded 7 assists over her last 24 games.

The final dangerous chance of the night for the Red Raiders came just a couple of seconds into the 80th-minute when freshman Gianna Gregoire ripped a shot that Naimoli tried to punch high and instead rang off the cross bar. Instead of bouncing in, the ball narrowly missed the goal line before bouncing away.

Over the final 10 minutes of action the Red Raiders held the Penguins without a shot to close out another impressive victory.

With the win, the Red Raiders were victorious at the John Walker Soccer Complex for the 20th time in their last 22 home matches (20-1-1) and now have started 2-0-0 for the first time since the 2018 season. That 20-out-of-22 streak coincides with the installation of the state-of-the-art new grass surface. The surface showed its might on Sunday as it withstood nearly two inches of rain during the early and late afternoon into evening.

HEAD COACH TOM STONE:
"First off, we have to give major props to our grounds crew. When the rain came in, the new field was tested. That was a ton of water, and they took care it. The field performed extremely well, and those guys got it as dry as possible. Which allowed us to play. If there was standing water out there, it would have been a real mess for our team because of the way we try and pass the ball. So, we were thrilled with that. It was also another good start. We scored eight minutes in. We told the team a good start doesn't necessarily mean you're going to score but it means you're on top of the other team and you're on the front foot. If you put them in the hole a little bit, the goals are coming. Another good start led to the first goal."

On playing through the wet conditions:

"We don't get a lot of rain in Lubbock, but when we do we get a deluge. Again, it's a credit to the field. But it was important for us to play through it because we go a lot of places where we play in those conditions. The last time we were at Oklahoma State and West Virginia it was like tonight was. It's a good point and I'll have to bring it up that we have experience slopping around. We got the ball moving a bit and it was really just the far corner that gave us some troubles, where Macy [Blackburn] was trying to conduct her business. Otherwise it was a really fun night."

On the combination play of Zdrojewski and Parsons:
"It was special because once you break the other teams 'front-three' they tend to collapse everyone around the top of the box. And then when you get closer, they make it more and more compact. There are ways around it and if you want to get through it you need to combine. And they were finding each other with no-look passes and finding each other with give-and-goes. That's textbook, how to breakdown a packed defense. Both of those two players have a high Soccer IQ. And then you must execute it, and your feet have to cooperate. They saw it and they executed it. Their feet were clean and tidy and both finishes were awesome. Peytons bending ball to the corner we do every Tuesday in split. And Peyton looked so calm to bend it around her. It was really a wonderful goal."

UP NEXT:
The challenge stiffens for the Red Raiders who return to California for the second-straight week, this week. The two-match road swing features a highly anticipated clash with No. 16 Santa Clara, who lost 5-1 to No. 7 Stanford on Sunday afternoon, as well as a date with San Francisco. First touch from Stevens Stadium at Buck Shaw Field is set for 7:30 p.m.