Jan Trejo / Vaquero Radio
The UTRGV Women’s Soccer Team defeated the Southern University Jaguars 1-0 Thursday at home, bringing its first win of the season.
The Vaqueros, whose record is now 1-2-1 overall, were strong from the opening whistle, demonstrating a chemistry and performance throughout the first half of the game.
In the second half, the Jaguars started pushing forward, attacking UTRGV, but the Vaqueros held their ground, not allowing the visiting team to score.
Head Coach Mark Foster explained how he felt after seeing the Vaqueros’ defense performance.
“They weren’t able to penetrate us, and so, it was a big shift from … the whole team defensively,” Foster said. “We looked solid defensively and we looked good going forward creating chances. So, really encouraged by how we were in and out of possession tonight.”
Junior redshirt Savannah Frisby was a key player for the Vaqueros. She created opportunities for UTRGV and took shot fours, including one at goal.
After a back-to-forth match, sophomore midfielder Linnea Eld scored the single goal for the Vaqueros after an assist from senior forward Sam Maudsley in the 56th minute.
Eld expressed how she felt after scoring.
“For me, I feel so, like, ‘Finally, I’m just waiting on the goal,’” Eld said. “And, hopefully, this will keep it up or I want it to keep it up.”
Eld also described the win as a hard-earned victory, reflecting the effort and teamwork that the entire team has been putting in.
“For the team, it feels great to finally get the win,” she said. “We’ve been waiting on this, and I feel like we’ve been earning it, like, a lot of the games, but we haven’t achieved it yet. So finally, we got the win.”
Foster explained what the team needs to do to keep up the great performance in the next game.
“You know, the last few years, this program hasn’t won enough, and I think this group of girls behind me have the talent to win a lot of games and have a good conference season and a great year,” he said. “So, it’s holding the girls to these standards every day and training every day in game, playing 90 minutes of soccer.”
The Vaqueros will protect their field turf against Howard Payne University at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
For more information, visit goutrgv.com.
This is Jan Trejo For Vaquero Radio.
