It took only a few minutes for the University of St. Thomas women's soccer team to find their way to the opening goal, and they kept the pressure on Texas College throughout the night, scoring a total of 7 unanswered goals to cap off the Celts Parents Night.
The evening started with the introduction of student-athletes and their families, and this seemed to give the Celts extra energy in today's match. Click here for #USTWS Parents Night Photo Gallery.
Aeriana Lewis (FR/Houston, TX) scored the first goal of the game, her fourth of the season, at the seventh minute of the game. She picked up the ball in the offensive third and without hesitation launched it towards the Steers goal. Fourteen minutes later it was Lewis who assisted Narcedalia Yanez (SR/Channelview, TX) inside the crowded box, and Yanez made sure she slotted the ball in the back of the net.
Despite Steers defensive efforts, Courtlyn Boxie (SO/Houston, TX)s pressure paid off as she picked up the rebound off the goalkeeper Vanessa Cueva in the 43rd minute to make it 3-0 for the Celts. The first half concluded with Celts having 14 to 1 shot advantage.
Celts worked patiently to find the way around packed Texas College defense and continued the pressure. In the sixth minute of the second half, defensive clearance following a corner kick by the Celts did not go far enough, and Katarina Maksimov (JR/Richmond, TX) picked up the ball around 25 yards out and blasted it over Texas College goalkeeper Klarissa Hernandez who came in at the beginning of second half. Celts had a total of 10 corner kicks in the game, and after a perfectly executed corner by Lewis, Alexa Noyola (SR/Houston, TX) headed in her first goal of the game, teams fifth in the 66th minute.
Just four minutes later Noyola assisted Courtlyn Boxie for her second goal of the game, crossing the ball from the right side as Boxie calmly pushed it past the Texas College goalkeeper.
The final goal of the game came in the 72nd minute as Mariah Escobar (SR/Houston, TX) won the ball in Celt's half of the field and pushed it forward before playing in Siobhan Higgins (SR/Katy, TX) who turned quickly taking on one Texas College defender at speed and blasted the ball from 25 yards into the top corner.
Inspired UST offense made 33 attempts (20 of those on goal) throughout the night. Kathryne Padgett (SR/Beaumont, TX) led the team with seven total shots, followed by Higgins and Yanez who had four each. Celts also had an opportunity to score one more, but the penalty kick attempt in late stages of the game went just wide.
Jordan Thompson (SR/Spring, TX) in goal recorded another shutout, and Celts defense led by Escobar, Sydney Wright (JR/Katy, TX), and Rachael Bell (SR/Houston, TX) worked tirelessly to make sure there were no shots on target for the Steers. This is the sixth shutout for the team.
Celts improve to 8-2-1 (6-0-1 in RRAC). Next, they face also undefeated Our Lady of the Lake this Thursday, October 18th in San Antonio, TX.
