Soccer: TCU closes home regular season slate with pair of Big 12 wins

Horned Frogs push unbeaten streak to nine games

TCU Soccer continues to climb the polls and the Big 12 standings, closing the regular season home schedule with a pair of big time conference wins in Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium. The offense has exploded over the last few weeks as the Horned Frogs have extended its unbeaten streak to nine games with wins over West Virginia on Thursday and over Arizona State on Sunday.

TCU 3 – West Virginia 1

The Mountaineers entered the game on Thursday night in first place in the Big 12 having not yet lost in conference play including a couple shutout wins. The squads were knotted up at 0-0 at the halftime break, despite consistent offensive pressure from the Horned Frogs, firing seven shots in the opening 45 minutes. For the second straight game, TCU found itself trailing. A misplaced pass in the defensive zone gave away, a brutal turnover that was well taken advantage by the WVU as the winger crosses to a streaking Taylor White for a game’s opening goal. The WVU lead was short-lived though as the Horned Frogs evened the tally a half minute later as Oli Pena found AJ Hennessey who fired from long range outside the box, placing it in the far upper corner, off the goalkeeper’s fingers, off the crossbar, and into the net

From there the offensive flood gates opened for the Frogs as Morgan Brown made her presence known, continuing a standout true freshman campaign. The midfielder kept alive a WVU clearance attempt and slotted a low-roller past the diving goalkeeper to give the Frogs the lead. She would then provide the assist later in the half to further extend the TCU lead, directing the Bella Diorio corner kick back in front of goal where Maddie Mooney headed it home to deliver a 3-1 final score line giving the Horned Frogs the head-to-head winner over one of the top Big 12 contenders.

TCU 5 – Arizona State 1

The Horned Frogs attack showed no signs of slowing on Sunday afternoon in the home regular season finale, dominating the Sun Devils from the start, slamming home five first half goals in a 15-minute flurry of activity. The Frogs now lead the Big 12 in goals scored, with three players (Seven Castain, Bella Diorio, and Caroline Kelly) ranked in the top-seven of goalscorers in the league and Oli Pena leading the Big 12 in assists. Diorio opened the scoring by taking on two ASU defenders to create enough space to fire a shot from outside the box, beating the outstretched arms of the Sun Devils’ GK.

A few minutes later true freshman midfielder Kaela Martinez was taken down in the box, earning a penalty kick that would be buried by Morgan Brown for her third goal of the season. Martinez had a standout game herself, in addition to earning that PK, she delivered assists on each of the next two TCU scores, including finding fellow true freshman Cameron Patton for her first career collegiate goal.

Camryn Lancaster would put the cherry on top of the phenomenal first half, scoring her first goal of the season, sending a bending strike from just inside the box following the pass back from Abigail Cox to give the Horned Frogs the 5 goal lead headed into the break. ASU would get one back 15 minutes into the second half, with Ensala Colon striking from distance to narrow the goal differential. The TCU defense held the Devils to only two shots on goal all game and allowed zero corner kick opportunities.

---

NEXT: TCU will be on the road for the final three games of the regular season, traveling to Orlando on Thursday to take on the UCF Knights (3-4-5; 1-3-3) and then a quick turnaround to Ames on Sunday for the Iowa State Cyclones (3-7-5; 1-3-3). The Horned Frogs are currently tied with the Texas Tech Red Raiders atop the Big 12 standings, each with a 6-0-2 league record.