CANYON, TEXAS – West Texas A&M Women's Soccer used three first half goals to come away with their first victory of the season in a 3-0 shutout win over New Mexico Highlands Saturday afternoon at The Pitch. The Lady Buffs were a +28 in the shot margin while being +16 in shots on goal.
The Lady Buffs set the tone in the early minutes of the game as their extended defensive pressure would force turnovers and create scoring chances. WT would record four shots (two on goal) with two corner kicks through the first eight minutes but would strike gold in the 9th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Following a forced turnover, WT would work the ball into their attacking zone where
Sienna Hurrell dumped a ball off to
Braely Martinez right outside the box in the top right corner. With her left foot, Martinez rocketed a shot to the top left corner of the netting past the keeper to give the Lady Buffs a 1-0 lead. West Texas A&M continued to stack shots and chances throughout the half as they controlled 61% of possession in the half. In the 29th minute,
Bailee Ramirez would create another quality chance for WT as blasted a shot to the top right corner over 20 feet outside the box. New Mexico Highlands would save the shot, but right at the doorstep was
Jade Martinez who tapped in the ball off the rebound for the second goal of the game for the Lady Buffs. Right before halftime in the 42nd minute, WT struck again following a corner kick from
Bailey Malone. Perfectly placing the ball in harms way, WT was able to corral the ball as
Sarah Hernandez Lopez took a shot in the box, but the Cowgirls would come away with a save. Despite saving the initial shot, they would misplay it and
Kennedy Casello cleaned it up off the rebound and knock it into the back of the net to give WT a 3-0 lead going into the half.
The second half was another strong offensive performance for the Lady Buffs as they tallied 15 shots with six on goal. Although they did not score in the second half, they continuously applied pressure and generated opportunities to extend the lead. After an excellent defensive first half where they allowed zero shots, WT strung together another great half with New Mexico Highlands only mustering four shots with two on goal, both of which would be saved handedly by
Franciezca Blancaflor. A solid all-around performance by West Texas A&M led to their first victory of the season as they took down New Mexico Highlands 3-0 in the shutout.
Top Lady Buffs
- Braely Martinez recorded her second straight game with a goal and is up to four points on the year. She also added three shots with one landing on goal as she started and played 49 minutes.
- Jade Martinez played 45 minutes in the midfield and scored her first goal of the season on her lone shot. This was her third career goal.
- Kennedy Casello scored her first career goal in 27 minutes of play. Casello also tacked on four shots with three landing on goal.
Notables
- West Texas A&M is now 17-2-2 all-time against New Mexico Highlands and have a current unbeaten streak of five games with a three game win streak.
- The Lady Buffs led the game in shots (32-4), shots on goal (18-2), and corner kicks (5-0). The 32 shots were the 11th most in a single game in program history.
- Three players made their first career appearance for West Texas A&M including Makenah Salas, Mary Valdez, and Payten Novak.
- Sienna Hurrell recorded her first career point as a Lady Buff with an assist. She also played 66 minutes and added two shots with one landing on goal.
- Franciezca Blancaflor started in goal and recorded a two save shutout win. Blancaflor passed Sarah Anderson (2004-05) in career saves with 76 (six on the season) and is now in ninth place all-time. She is also one shutout away from cracking into the top 10 in career shutouts with four.
- Bailey Malone and Sara Soto each fired four shots with Malone landing three on goal. This was Malone's season debut where she played 41 minutes while Soto played 56.
- Riley Sims and Mollie Ferro each landed all of their shots on goal with Sims compiling three while Ferro added two. Sims played 56 minutes while Ferro played 54.
- Samantha Solorzano, Michelle Velasco, Bailee Ramirez, and Salas all added one shot on goal.
Up Next
West Texas A&M will be back in action on Thursday, September 3 as they travel to Alamosa, Colorado to take on Adams State at 3:00 p.m. CT.
For all the latest on West Texas A&M Women's Soccer, stay tuned to
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