No. 25 Texas Tech uses Second Half surge to down Houston, 2-0
HOUSTON – In hot and humid conditions and facing a third-straight road game in eight days, No. 25 Texas Tech Soccer downed Houston 2-0, at the Carl Lewis International Complex Sunday afternoon.
With temps soaring over 90, and the real feel near 100, Texas Tech (9-2-1, 4-0-1 Big 12) got a rocket from Taylor Zdrojewski just 38 seconds after halftime, and a strike from Peyton Dyess two minutes later to seal the win.
With the two goals, the Red Raiders are now outscoring opponents 16-1 after halftime this season.
In the victory, goalkeeper Faith Nguyen made a career-high six saves to earn her eighth victory and sixth clean sheet of the season. With the clean sheet today, Nguyen moved into a tie for ninth all-time on the career shutout list.
After a frustrating first half that featured 10 shots, five corners and multiple stromg opportunities, the Red Raiders finally broke through after intermission when Zdrojewski turned and ripped a “bar down” shot that clanged off the bar and bounced into the net.
The goal, which came on the backs of her two-assist performance in Thursday’s win at K-State, was Zdrojewski’s sixth of the season. The forward now sits on 15 total points, one shy of Peyton Parsons’ team-leading 16.
Up a goal, the Red Raiders didn’t take long to quickly double their lead, when Skylar Haase found a wide-open Peyton Dyess on the left flank. Dyess took one touch and ripped a right-footed shot into the bottom-right corner of the net.
The strike was Dyess’ first career goal, as the freshman became the 12th Red Raider to find the back of the net this season.
Armed with the 2-0 lead and 40 mins away from their 22nd-straight Big 12 Conference result, the Red Raiders behind a couple of strong saves from Nguyen closed out their sixth straight Big 12 Sunday clean sheet.
With the victory, the Red Raiders closed another perfect 2-0-0 week, to vault to the top of the Big 12 standings. Based on Sunday’s results, the Red Raiders are tied with Colorado and West Virginia with 13 points (2.60/match), two points clear of fourth-place TCU.
Sunday’s 2-0 win over Houston also moves the Red Raiders to 9-0-4 on the road since a 2021 loss at WVU and increased the Red Raiders Big-12 best goal differential to +7, as Tech has outscored its opponents 8-1 in five Big 12 matches this season.
HEAD COACH TOM STONE:
“Our finite little quest before the big quest, was to go 3-0 on the road [after the draw against TCU]. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy with the teams we had, but we got through it and will have the chance to play at home again. This one today was the hardest of three for a lot of reasons. [Houston Coach] Jaime [Frias] is doing a great job. Houston was all in until the end. Even though it was only 94, it felt like it was 104 because we’re not used to this humidity. Houston played well. The field is a little tight. So there were a lot of things working against us. We didn’t have our best performance, but the best part of our effort today was that we came out of halftime and jumped on them quickly. We scored two fantastic goals. Peyton [Dyess] scored her first career goal, Z had a blast and the game felt over at that point. They didn’t let us off the hook and we had to fight for the result down the stretch, but we had a comfortable lead and were able to see it out.”
UP NEXT:
Following four road matches in the last five, and three straight road conference matches, the Red Raiders finally return home for the first time since Sept. 19 on Friday night for a clash with Baylor. First touch is set for 7 p.m.
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Release Provided By Andrew Stern Texas Tech Athletics