A hot, physical affair resulted in a 2-0 North Texas victory over the TCU women’s soccer team Sunday afternoon, as the Frogs fell to 0-2 at home this season.
North Texas struck first with just under 26 minutes to play in the first half when Mean Green forward Rachel Holden slid the ball past the outstretched arms of TCU keeper Vittoria Arnold.
The Mean Green scored again minutes later when Amber Haggerty took a cross from Karla Pineda and punched it in past the diving Arnold.
“I thought up until they scored their first goal we had the game,” TCU head coach Eric Bell said. “They had one shot, and one goal, and that turns into another goal and we just weren’t able to rebound.”
TCU’s best look of the first half came when sophomore defender Rebekah Foreman found herself open 20 yards in front of the North Texas goal and fired a shot toward the left goal post, only to see it deflected out of bounds by UNT goalie Haley Riley.
Senior defender Maddy Courvoisier had a chance to score late in the second half for the Frogs when the ball rebounded out to her in front of the UNT goal, but her shot sailed over the crossbar.
The second half was a defensive struggle that saw a flurry of shots from both sides but failed to yield a goal.
“I think they were relatively organized,” Bell said of the UNT defense, “I think it was more about us than them. When we aren’t able to complete 10-yard passes under no pressure it makes it kind of difficult.”
TCU struggled to score against a veteran, senior-heavy Mean Green defense that played well together as a cohesive unit. Three members of the UNT defense had played together since high school.
“I think you have these little cross-town rivalries and people know people,” Bell said about the physical nature of the game.
“It’s going to be more physical because there are bragging rights involved.”
Frog players frequently found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time as they suffered a wave of injuries. Sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Koch left the game in the second half with an apparent head injury after getting drilled by a sharp ricochet while first-year midfielder Patry Carrion left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury.
