UTRGV women’s soccer plays to a double overtime 0-0 draw versus Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the season home-opener at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex Wednesday night.
The Islanders had the advantage in the opening minutes of the match as they took the first corner kick and shot of the match in the first and third minute, respectively.
The Vaquero’s then dominated the rest of the game as they controlled the possession and were aggressive in the attack as they outshot the Islanders, 20-4 and 8-2 on goals, and corner kicks 12-4.
UTRGV freshman forward Mari Liis Lillemae ended with a game-high five shots, one on goal, as she caused problems for Corpus Christi on the right side.
In a postgame news conference via Zoom, UTRGV Head Coach Glad Bugariu spoke to the stamina and work rate of Lillemae.
“Last game we played against Corpus she covered over 12 km; she probably did more of that today,” Bugariu says. “Her fitness level and her physical preparation is at another level so what she does is very normal.”
Both senior midfielder Gina Steiner and junior forward Emily Zapata led the Vaqueros with 2 shots on goal each.
Despite the many opportunities for the Vaqueros, they came up empty time and time again as freshman Islander goalkeeper Kennedy Stelling recorded seven saves.
The closest UTRGV came to finding the back of the net was 69th minute as Emily Zapata headed a corner from sophomore midfielder Anna Torslov but was denied by an Islander defender guarding the post.
Bugariu was pleased with the multiple opportunities his team had but is disappointed in the final result.
“Excellent performance, complete domination,” he says. “We traded so many chances to score but in the end, the name of the game is to score goals and we were not able to do that today. We ended up with a tie which…today feels like a loss.”
In overtime, each team earned a yellow card as Corpus Christi Head Coach Craig Shaw received one in the 98th minute for disputing a call with head official Jacob Zuniga and Lillimae was awarded a yellow after a strong tackle in the 101st minute.
UTRGV sophomore goalkeeper Maile Lunardi, in a slow night between the sticks, recorded two saves and recorded her second clean sheet of the season.
Both universities are now tied in the South Texas Showdown standings, 16.5-16.5.
The next game for UTRGV will be at 1 p.m. Sunday against UTSA on the road at the Park West Athletics Center in San Antonio.
Bugariu says the team will begin preparing for their upcoming match Thursday as they face a talented UTSA squad.
“They’re a superior team, from a superior conference,” Bugariu says. “They have all these advantages that maybe we can’t comprehend at this point, so it’ll be a very tough game, we have to play extremely well.”
You can watch the game live on Conference USA TV at CUSA.tv.
Twitter: @Radio_Rubio
