SAN MARCOS, Texas – Playing to a 1-1 draw against Troy (5-5-1, 0-2-1 SBC) Sunday afternoon at the Bobcat Soccer Complex, Texas State (6-3-2, 1-0-2 SBC) extended its unbeaten streak to six matches.
 
"Overall thoughts are very disappointed. That was not a good tie while playing at home. I thought we had really good possession but didn't create a lot of clear chances. Credit to Troy, they made it difficult to find good chance and were company defensively," said head coach Steve Holeman. "We talked about set piece opportunities and unfortunately gave one away on that throw-in that we knew was coming. We have to be a little more disciplined."
 
Leading the way with four of the Bobcats' nine shot attempts was Alexis Neal. She was also one of six to put a shot on frame.
 
Caitlyn Draper made four saves on the afternoon. She saw her personal shutout streak come to an end at 418:11 minutes.
 
Giving TXST a 1-0 advantage was Olivia Wright late in the 20th minute. Mya Ulloa sent in a corner kick that was flicked back to the middle of the frame by Kennley Bradley. Wright outleapt multiple Trojan defenders to head the ball into the back of the net. The tally was the senior's third of the season to tie for the team lead.
 

Wright gets above the defense for her 3rd goal of the season.#EatEmUp x @OliviaWrightttt pic.twitter.com/bSwhW8wR8H

— Texas State Soccer (@TXStateSoccer) September 24, 2023

 
Another corner kick nearly 90 seconds later saw Bradley put a shot on frame that ended with Une Georgsen making a diving stop. That would be Texas State's final shot of the opening 45 minutes while the Trojans would attempt four with only one being on goal.
 
Midway through the 57th minute, the Bobcats were awarded a throw-in. Going quickly, Ulloa threw the ball in to Wright, who quickly sent a pass past the last defender to spring Neal for a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper. The referee blew her whistle to deny the opportunity of goal and made Ulloa redo the throw-in, which also allowed the visitors to fall back into position defensively. Troy was able to force a turnover on the ensuing throw-in and took a long shot that was snagged by Draper.
 
The Trojans would knot the score off a throw-in by Shyanne Scharbrough that ended with Dolce Villaflor hitting a shot off the left post and in. The goal snapped the Bobcats' shutout streak at 475:54, the fifth longest in program history.
 
Madi Goss was able to flick a pass from Zoe Junior onto frame off a corner kick that was caught by Georgsen, who wasted time by falling to the ground with no one around her.
 
In the 79th minute, Neal weaved around a couple of defenders and uncorked a shot that hit the outside netting while at the same time a Trojan ran through her kicking leg to take her down.
 
With two and a half minutes left on the clock, Wright blocked a long ball attempt by a Troy defender. The ball bounced into the 18-yard box that Junior was able to beat the keeper to attempt a shot from eight yards out. It ricocheted off Georgsen while at the same time sticking out one of her legs to trip up Junior. The ball landed to Wright, who slipped while trying to shoot, but it rolled right to Junior as she was put back onside by a defender falling back to guard the goal.
 
Junior faked out the defender to get a shot off while having Georgsen pull on her jersey and then full-on tackle her and appeared to put the Bobcats back in front as the ball slammed into the back of the netting. However, the assistant ref raised the flag to call TXST offside to deny the potential match-winning tally.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is a trip to Atlanta to take on Georgia State on Friday with kickoff set for 6 p.m. CT.
 
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