FORT WORTH - Texas Wesleyan (4-1) showed true grit Friday night at Carter-Riverside High School, overcoming adversity in a 2-1 victory over the previously-unbeaten Friends University (2-1).
 
Friends out-shot the fast-starting Rams 22-5, but Texas Wesleyan made critical stops in all the right moments and used strong performances from a number of players to get the job done.
 
"Very proud of the players tonight," said Head Coach Josh Gibbs. "It was all about heart for us. Friends is a very talented team, and had the better run of play most of the game. We were able to make some tactical changes that really helped us absorb the pressure. We finally played as a group and I'm incredibly proud of them."
 
Tameir Grosvenor got Wesleyan going, but she and everyone else had to wait - a 40-minute lightning delay and a venue change made getting this victory a bit more challenging as the ball quickly skimmed across the wet carpet of the turf field all night once the action got going. Grosvenor scored on the Rams' first shot - in the fifth minute - and then got another in the 15th minute, on one of the best runs a soccer player can dream of, speeding past the midfield and powering past the defender for a wicked shot through Falcons' goalkeeper Lauren Ferguson.
 
The two-goal deficit fueled Friends, and it wasn't long before Friends started to assert themselves back into the game. In the final ten minutes of the first half, the Falcons fired five different shots, including a cross-bar ding and two that needed Lauren Bond's saving abilities. Wesleyan managed just one shot in the final 30 minutes of the half.
 
Still, Friends didn't find many connections, until the 51st minute. Jazelle Gonzalez finally managed to put one in for the Falcons and put the pressure on. The Rams attacked less, and protected more, and that's when they showed some top-notch effort.
 
Katie Baugh made a critical block in the 76th minute as a threatening ball tried to enter into the box. In the 84th minute, the Falcons were flinging the ball at will. Savannah Hart got her head on a would be shot on goal that ricocheted back to the foot of Kaitlyn Still who fired again. That shot was also blocked out of play before Friends was called for a foul off the ensuing corner kick.
 
The only offensive threat in the second half for Wesleyan was a vicious one. In the 69th minute, Sasha Trejo popped a ball to the opposite side of the field perfectly to Cat Smith, who gathered herself just long enough to get a shot off before a bouncing ball found Taylor Ross' head, but too high. Trejo in the final minutes even helped out defensively, clearing away one of Friends' final attacks.
 
Bond recorded six saves, and Christy Zwart played in goal in the second half to gather four. The 10 saves needed by Wesleyan keepers were the most this season, and only bested by three, 11-save performances last season.
 
RAMBLINGS:
The last time Wesleyan women's soccer won a game in which it managed to get less than 10 shots was October 22, 2013 against Wayland Baptist, when the Lady Rams needed nine shots to defeat the Pioneers 2-1.
 
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Lady Rams are at the University of Houston-Victoria Sunday at 1 p.m.