On the homecoming weekend for Prairie View A&M University, the Lady Panthers used the student and alumni support to demolish Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State. With the nearly 100 fans attending both games, the ladies kicked and defended their way to 7-1 and 3-0 wins, respectively. “The girls really feed off of the crowd,” said Coach Abe Garcia. “It was pretty large because I know we had to bring out an extra bleacher section for them.”
The first major win came against Alcorn State. From the onset, Prairie View started their weekend dominance getting three shots on goal. The last, by Monica Diaz, hit the back of the net just 6:44 into the first half. Only 52 seconds later, Yosselyn Aguilar, snuck into the zone and left the ball in the net to increase the Lady Panther lead to 2-0 with more than 82 minutes left in the match.
After another 15 minutes of shots for PVAMU, Brenda Castillo put the ball past the goalie for a remarkable third goal in the first 26 minutes of the game. At the 30 minute mark, Abigail Escobar got in on the action with her goal. After an Alcorn score, JD Devany ended the almost perfect first half with her goal at the 42 minute mark.
In the second half, the Lady Panthers picked up where they left off as the team put up nine more shots. They ended the game with 24 total shots on goal. Escobar again got on the books with her header in the third minute of the second half and Marissa Woods added a goal to the earlier assist just five minutes later.
The second game of the weekend produced the Lady Panthers third shutout of the season as they took down the Delta Devils. Prairie View kept the momentum from the last contest as they again controlled the ball all game long. Their 22 shots on goal manufactured three goals, while Valley only managed 9 total shots.
Beginning again with heart and passion, the Lady Panthers first goal came on the foot of Diaz as she delivered for the team exactly three minutes into the game. Castillo and Escobar both kept their goal streak going with one goal apiece in the second half. Jessica Garcia had a good game in front of goal as she saved three shots to keep the MVSU team with a goose egg throughout the conference match-up.
“The win against Valley really was good for our confidence,” said Garcia. The MVSU finished last season with the SWAC crown and the Lady Panthers are using this momentum for their remaining games. “It was a good weekend,” said Garcia. “Now we have to stay humble, stick to our roots, and continue playing with heart.”
With the two wins over the spirited weekend, the Lady Panthers are now in position to pull up into a tie for second place. Prairie View has a chance to leave the Friday rivalry game against Texas Southern with a three-way tie in the SWAC’s western division with Grambling State as the third team. “We got the team to beat TSU, but you never know what team is going to show up, Garcia said” The game starts promptly at 6 p.m.