SAN MARCOS, Texas – Junior
Mackenzie Smith was at the right place at the right time as she followed up a rebound to score the lone goal of the match in the Texas State soccer team's 1-0 victory over Louisiana on a chilly Friday evening at the Bobcat Soccer Complex.
The Bobcats improved to 7-5-2 on the season and 3-2-1 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Ragin' Cajuns fall to 6-5-3 overall and 2-2-2 in conference play.
Kaylee Davis attempted the first shot of the game late in the third minute that was blocked and went out for a corner kick. That would be TXST's only shot until the 23rd minute, also coming from Davis and was blocked, as UL played a possession oriented match.
Early in the 26th minute, Davis used her speed to outrace Cajun defends and unleashed a shot from inside the box. UL's Mackenzie Lee stopped the Allen, Texas native's shot but Smith was there to knock the rebound home to put the Bobcats in front.
Texas State was held to just one more shot in the half, an attempt by
Jessica Pikoff that went off a defender in the 41st minute. The Cajuns took four shots during that time with all of them from distance. Only one was on frame and easily handled by
Heather Martin.
Davis again used her superior speed to beat the defenders and unleashed a shot late in the 50th minute. However, it went just wide of the right post for a goal kick.
Another chance to increase the lead came from
Madison Humphrey. A little over a minute after coming onto the field in the 66th minute, the freshman battled a UL defender and was eventually able to get by her to unleash a shot that was caught by Lee near the bottom left corner.
Davis had two more looks in the second half. The first came late during the 79 minute when an attempted cross from the near side almost went in as it just cleared over the crossbar. With 30 seconds left on the clock, the senior forward was able to beat the defense again and placed a hard, low shot towards the bottom left corner, but was denied again by the goalkeeper.
The second half saw the Cajuns send seven players forward over the last 20 minutes to try and find the equalizer. The TXST backline held firm and allowed only long shot attempts, four of which were on goal and easily controlled by Martin.
UL held possession of the ball 56% of the time, led 14-12 on shots and 7-6 in shots on goal. The visitor's aggressiveness to tie the match resulted in them being called for 12 fouls, 10 in the second half, to the Bobcats' eight.
Davis led all players with a season-high seven shots attempts and placed three of them on goal.
Jordan Kondikoff was the only other Texas State player with multiple shots with two, one of which was on frame.
Martin made a season-high seven saves on the night. The shutout was the fifth of the season and the 20th in her career. The Midlothian, Texas native's career shutout total is tied for the 11th most in Sun Belt history with three former South Alabama goalkeepers.
Next up for Texas State is a trip to Coastal Carolina on Friday, Oct. 18 for a 6 p.m. ET kickoff.
For the latest information on the Texas State soccer team, follow on
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter.
