The North Texas soccer team (3-0) captured their third win of the season at home against Houston Baptist (1-1) with a final score of 2-1. The Mean Green allowed their first goal of the season against the Huskies, marking the first time Houston Baptist has scored against the Mean Green in five matches.
Despite winning their third straight home game, head coach John Hedlund was not pleased with the outcome of the game.
“[I’m] not happy right now,” Hedlund said. “We did not do a good job of finishing our opportunities tonight. We left them in the game and they found a way to score in the end to make it interesting.”
The Mean Green scored two goals in the first half within two minutes of each other. The first to score was redshirt junior defender Brittney Lawson, who was assisted by junior forward Berklee Peters and freshman defender Taylor Hunter. The second goal was made by junior midfielder Logan Bruffett with the assist coming from Peters and redshirt freshman midfielder Chloe Bohanon.
North Texas earned their first shot attempt of the season after the Huskies were awarded a penalty kick to compensate for Lawson’s yellow card in the first half. After allowing their first shot attempt, they gave up their first score of the year late in the second half to freshman defender Maggie Reynolds. The Mean Green registered 25 shot attempts throughout the match, Hedlund stressed the importance of finishing scoring opportunities.
“For us it’s all about finishing,” Hedlund said. “It’s almost like the offense after two goals just stopped playing. So, we’ve got to do a better job of finishing our opportunities and putting things away.”
Bruffett’s first half score was her third on the year, setting a new career-high. That goal tied her with Peters for team-high in goals (3). Bruffett echoed Hedlund’s rhetoric regarding the teams need for finishing out games.
“We started off really strong,” Bruffettsaid. “I feel like after we got that second goal, I feel like we kind of rested and you can’t rest against any team. We just dropped the level of intensity and were kind of just hanging on towards the end.”
Lawson missed all of last season with a knee injury but managed to score her first career goal against the Huskies. Her goal for the upcoming match against Texas Tech is to not repeat tonight’s performance.
“We just can’t come out like we did today,” Lawson said. “[Texas Tech]’s going to be faster, stronger. It’s at their home field and they’re going to have a huge crowd. Sowe just have to go in and play our game.”
UP NEXT: North Texas will travel to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech in their first away game of the year on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.
Featured Image: Texas Southern University player and junior defensive midfield Brooke Lampe (23) both jump to attempt a header. TSU didn’t score or make any shots during the game. Image by Grace Davis