HOUSTON, Texas – A pair of early first half goals were too much to overcome as Alabama A&M (3-7-0, 1-1-0 SWAC) dropped a 3-1 decision at Texas Southern (1-7-2, 1-0-1 SWAC) in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action and an NCAA Division I women's soccer game on Sunday, September 25.
The teams would trade a pair of shots over the first 15 minutes of play, with one from each club getting blocked, before the Tigers would break through at the 16:09 mark. That would come in the form of Ayana Noel finding Victoria Pucci to make it 1-0. Defense would settle back in for the next 10 minutes until TSU doubled down and made it 2-0 as Ari Mendez took a pass from Camile Robinson and drove it home at 26:22.
That lead would hold up until the 69
th minute when freshman defender
K'la Barnes-Blackwood (Margate, Fla.) fired a shot high at 68:12 but recovered to put a head on the ball 16 seconds later, driving it home to cut the deficit to 2-1. That would be as close as they would get, however, as the Tigers defense locked in and Noel added on with a score at 89:49 to reach the eventual final margin of 3-1.
Barnes-Blackwood led the Bulldogs with her unassisted score and freshman forward
Chelsie Charles (Los Angeles, Calif.) fired off three shots, putting one on net, to anchor the offense. Senior goalkeeper
Laura Jansa (Barcelona, Spain) started and played 21:59 and surrendered two scores to fall to 3-7 while sophomore goalkeeper Madalynn Tanklsey (Round Rock, Texas) played the final 68:01, making a pair of saves against one goal.
Noel led Texas Southern with a goal and an assist while Pucci and Mendez added the other scores. Jaidyn Christophe went the distance in net, making five saves and allowing just one goal to round out the top performers.
Alabama A&M is now off until Friday, October 7 when they host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the start of a mini two-game homestand. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. at Bulldog Field.
