FORT WORTH, TX - Texas Wesleyan Women's Soccer (7-3, 2-0 SAC) erased a 2-1 halftime deficit to blast Southwestern Christian (1-6, 0-2 SAC) 5-2 Tuesday afternoon at Martin Field, the fifth-straight game the Lady Rams have scored at least four goals. A streak of that ilk has only been achieved one other time this decade (2017) and for the first time includes two conference opponents.
Early and often, SCU was physical with the front line of TXWES, particularly
Taylor Ross who got the brunt of the punishment as she attempted to create for her teammates. The Eagles could only slow her down as Ross flicked a special ball to the foot of
Tameir Grosvenor in the 16th minute to tie the game 1-1. Ross exited later in the half, but would return to the game in the second 45 minute period.
Shutouts have been hard to come by for the Lady Rams this season, allowing a nagging goal in four different contests in which they scored at least four goals themselves. In the 32nd when Southwestern Christian scored its second goal to go up 2-1, there was a certain shift in mood on the Rams' sideline. At the half, a motivational speech was needed.
"It was a very rough start," said Head Coach
Josh Gibbs. "We showed quite a lack of focus and intensity and SCU took it to us. I was very proud of the way the team came out in the second half and completely turned the tables statistically. It was very rewarding to see them grind it out and search to find solutions. It's a good lesson learned against a team that I feel is much better than their record reflects."
Don't poke the Ram. Texas Wesleyan turned the final 45 minutes into a bloodbath, out-shooting the Eagles 15-2, with those two shots coming off of set pieces without much creation necessary. Grosvenor added a goal in the 47th and 83rd minutes, bringing her total to 20 this season in just 10 games. She had 23 goals as a freshman and a sophomore and now needs just eight goals to break the program's all-time goals scored record. Grosvenor is second in the country in goals scored, trailing only Johnson and Wales' (Florida) Savannah Jackson, who has scored 23 of her team's 30 goals in 2019. Counting Grosvenor's team-leading seven assists and she leads the NAIA with 47 points to her name.
Cat Smith assisted on the goal in the 47th and
Kaitlyn Finger helped make the hat trick possible in the 83rd. Smith, who checked in for Ross when she went out with minor injury and exhaustion, was exemplary for the second-straight game, also nabbing a goal, unassisted in the 50th minute. Smith has three goals and two assists in her last 77 minutes of action, more points than any other Ram in their last 77 minutes of work.
Lindsey Beckrich, who earned two assists earlier in the season as a defender, scored her first goal in the 73rd minute off a set piece bouncing ball that hopped through, past and over everyone on its way in. She's the 12th player to score a goal in 2019.
Texas Wesleyan heads to Oklahoma Panhandle State this weekend, October 4, protecting a five-game win streak. It'll be the first meeting between the two schools - OPSU is in its first season competing in women's soccer and have struggled mightily in Sooner Athletic Confernce play early on, getting outscored by a combined 22 goals against Oklahoma City and Wayland Baptist.