This Thursday the Celts squared off against Our Lady of the Lake University and came out on top with a 2-1 victory. Whenever these two teams meet it always provides for great action, and this match proved no different as OLLU came in atop the Red River Athletic Conference standings and UST was number two up until this point.
The Saints went up early after a breakaway ball was challenged by goalkeeper Jordan Thompson (SR/Spring, TX) and the referee awarded Dawson Brinkley a penalty kick in the 10th minute of the first half. The Celts responded with high intensity and scored just moments later with Siobhan Higgins (SR/Katy, TX) chipping the ball over the Saints backline to Katarina Maksimov (JR/Richmond, TX), who settled the ball at her feet and slotted it past goalkeeper Mikaela Gilbert in the 12th minute. The UST offense continued to put pressure on the opposing team and found the back of the net again in the 34th minute after Torri Dunn (FR/Keller, TX) was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty kick, which Higgins put in the upper right corner. The weather conditions started to worsen as the second half began, and the rain made it difficult for either team to maintain possession for very long. The Celts defense held the Saints scoreless for the remainder of the match despite seven corners and seven shots by OLLU.
Sydney Wright (JR/Katy, TX) commented on St. Thomas' competitive relationship with the Saints: "We have an ongoing rivalry with OLLU, and they are a really great team, so it's always a tough game whenever we play them." Celts have been ranked #1 in the conference poll for RRAC since the beginning of the season, but just after beating OLLU did they jump as the top team in conference standings. Celts are the only team on the women's side in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll receiving votes and have been in on the national radar throughout the 2018 fall season. Click here for the NAIA polls and rankings link.
Celts move to 7-0-1 in the RRAC and face the Rams of Huston-Tillotson University next at 8 am on Saturday (October 20th) at Round Rock Multipurpose Complex.
