Nathan Cross/KillerFrogs
TCU Soccer: Exciting Big 12 Opener Ends In Draw
The highly anticipated debut to the Big 12 season, for both sides, between No. 25 University of Texas Longhorns and No. 12 Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, debuted Thursday night in Fort Worth. On Thursday night, the two teams played to 1-1 draw.
The Horned Frogs came into the match boasting the 2nd ranking in the Big 12, when it comes to goals and assists on the season. The feeling in the stadium was that of a postseason matchup as it was a packed Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium, with 2,094 in attendance.
The first half of action was quite honestly abysmal, if you were looking for offensive action. It wasn't until right before the halftime break, when Holly Ward netted the go-ahead goal to make it 1-0 Longhorns.
The halftime message from TCU coach Eric Bell was that they had plenty of time to net the equalizer. There was never a sense of worry on the Horned Frogs sideline.
Camryn Lancaster scored the penalty kick for TCU, in the 70th minute, just after forward graduate student, Messiah Bright forced her way down field to earn the penalty kick. The goal scored on the penalty, was the exact energy, that the sold out crowd needed, to rally the Frogs to try to steal a win.
With just three minutes left in the match, the Longhorns fired a shot across the right post, which felt like the final attacking chance. Jilly Shimkin (UT sophomore) crossed the ball in with just 20 seconds on the clock. TCU defended well and it seemed as if both teams were ready for the draw.
TCU will stride into road Big 12 play as they head to Lawrence, to take on the 7-4 Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas opened Big 12 play with a 2-0 defeat, against Oklahoma State.
The 6-1-3 Texas Longhorns, will continue their Big 12 schedule, Sunday, when they take on 4-2-4 Texas Tech.
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