Texas Tech Rolls No. 12 OSU as Blackburn Sets All-Time Assist Mark

STILLWATER, Okla. – A Kaitlyn Giametta goal with just seven minutes to go before halftime, and a patented ‘Ash Smash’ from Ashleigh Williams, powered Texas Tech Soccer to a 2-0 win over No. 12 Oklahoma State Sunday afternoon at Neal Patterson Stadium.

In what started as physical defensive battle quickly opened up 40 seconds into the 38th minute when a beautiful 1-2 play from Skylar Haase and Taylor Zdrojewski resulted in a sliding strike from Giametta.

Armed with a 1-0 lead, Texas Tech (7-2-1, 2-0-1 Big 12) quickly doubled its lead 18 minutes into the second half, when Williams one-timed a perfect cross from Giametta for her second goal of the season. The strike was made possible by a beautiful run and pass from Macy Blackburn who recorded her program-record 28th all-time assist.

With the victory the Red Raiders extend their Power Four leading unbeaten streak to 20 consecutive matches (15-0-5) and extend their road Big 12 unbeaten streak to 11 (7-0-4) straight matches, a streak that dates back to the 2021 season.

The victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State (8-2-1, 1-2-0 Big 12) marks the second straight year that the Red Raiders have defeated a top 15 team on the road (2-1 @ No. 14 Texas), while today’s win over the Cowgirls is also the highest ranked road win for the Red Raiders since 2014 when Tech beat No. 9 KU (Oct. 17, 2014) 1-0 in Lawrence.

In the victory, goalkeeper Faith Nguyen was strong once again, recording a pair of saves to close out her third straight Big 12 clean sheet and fifth of the season.

With today’s clean sheet, the Red Raiders have allowed just three goals over the last nine games and just one goal over the least six games.

HEAD COACH TOM STONE:
“We feel great about the performance. It’s not easy to win on the road in the Big 12, and we were coming in and playing the No. 12 ranked team in the country. Oklahoma State hadn’t lost before Thursday or conceded a goal, and we knew they were going to be a really tough out. But the mentality was right. We said all year that after the players that we lost we were going to have to reshape and remake the team and the younger girls would have to grow up fast. And then our veterans would have to lead us. And these women did that today. Our veterans were great and our forward had a great second half after a frustrating first half. Macy [Blackburn], Elise [Anderson], Molly [Skurcenski] and Peyton [Parsons] did a great job leading the team. That’s what it takes to win on the road in the Big 12. You have to have some good leadership. Today we had to battle the rain and even had a delay. We didn’t let any of the things that could have gotten in the way get in the way. It was a really good performance despite the last 10 minutes, but we’re young and we’ll figure that out.”

On the two goals scored:

“The first goal was probably the most well-constructed attack we had all half. Up until that point we had treated the ball like a hot potato. We were a little bit rash in our decision making. But in that sequence, we passed to open people and we made simple passes that led to dangerous passes. When we cut Skylar inside she could have shot it, she could have played it across, but she saw [Taylor] Z[drojewski] out of the corner of her left eye, slipped Z in. And Z played an absolutely perfect ball. Every coach tells their forward to get across defenders, and Bug got across her defender and that was huge lift for us. It gave us great confidence. On the second one, it was exactly what Macy does, and what we do on flanks and that’s what Ashleigh does. Ashleigh has been frustrated this season and her time in front of goal, but when needed it today, the biggest goal we’ve scored so far, to put it away.  She was right there for us. It was a great relief to see how happy she was and the way the team celebrated it. Two great goals and we couldn’t be happier for those two.”

On the Blackburn breaking the assist record:
“We’re so happy for her and she’s done it in like two-and-a-half years. She still has the rest of this season and all of next season. And she has already broken the program record for most assists. We’ve had some great assisters in our history. Taylor Lytle who is about to go into the hall of fame had the record for a while.  And Alli Murphy who was a tremendous player and was a seven-year pro. She had a ton of assists and broke some records. The most highly regarded outside back we’ve was Jaelene Hinkle. She was one of the best left backs in the world. She was getting assists like it was it was nothing. Macy rolled in and has the best service that I’ve seen from a college player. She’s certainly the best we’ve had here, and if you’re a forward you want to play with Macy Blackburn, because she’s going to set you up. That’s what she did for Ashleigh today, and Ashleigh put it home, but it’s hard to put into words the absolute quality of that young lady. This wasn’t the best her best game, Macy would be the first one to tell you that, this was a battle, and she was caught up in the battle more than anything. A lot of times she gets to fly down the wing and do her thing. Today, she had fight and scrap, and still managed to have the big play of the game to turn the corner and whip it into Ashleigh and break the record.”

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders continue a three-match road swing on Thursday night when they head to Kansas State. First touch from Manhattan is set for 7 p.m.

–TECH–

Release Provided By Andrew Stern Texas Tech Athletics