Coming off their upset from the University of North Texas, the Lady Panthers soccer team took to the field again against the Texas College Lady Steers who were looking for some bright light to add to their season, but the Lady Panthers shut them out 3-0.
Picking up right where they left off, Prairie View’s ladies led 1-0 in the 12:00 minute, courtesy of a Yoselyn Aguilar goal. The Lady Panthers’ defense also dominated the first half as they held the visitors to only one shot and one corner kick.
Even though the team had the lead, Coach Abe Garcia was less than pleased by their performance. “The girls came out very slow and lackadaisical,” said Coach Garcia. “We got into the motions early instead of actually playing.”
In the second half, the Lady Panthers again came out strong as they controlled possession of the ball for the first 20 minutes of the half until a good long pass by JD Devany and a misplay by a Texas College defender led to a brilliant second goal by Mayra Castillo in the 65:00 minute.
“We came out stronger in the second half, but we could have put more goals in,” said Coach Garcia. The Lady Steers found an opportunity a couple of minutes later, when one Lady Steer beat goal keeper Jessica Garcia, but defender Megan Vlam made an excellent sliding save to clear the ball off the line and keep the shutout going. Then, in the 71:00 minute, Aguilar scored again in a pile in front of the net, helped by a misplay by the Lady Steer goalkeeper.
The Lady Panthers dominated the flow of play as they controlled the midfield by not allowing their opponents to gain any quality possession and the back line cut off any long passes flown in by Texas College. Prairie View also kept the Lady Steer goalkeeper busy by getting up more than 30 shots on goal. Overall, the performance resulted in a win by the Lady Panthers, but Coach Garcia is looking for more enthusiasm before SWAC conference play. “Once the whistle blows we need to come out strong and ready to go,” said Coach Garcia. “We can’t wait til 45 minutes have gone by and then start to wake up. They know the system already, so we just have to go play.”
The Lady Panthers are now preparing for their next road trip where they play the Lady Bobcats of Texas State in San Marcos, Texas on Friday, Sept. 25 and travel to the University of Texas-San Antonio for a Sunday game on Sept. 27.