TCU won its second conference match of the year 1-0 over the visiting Iowa State Cyclones Friday night.
TCU (6-8-3, 2-4-1) needed late-game heroics from its star freshman and leading goal scorer, forward Michelle Prokof, to end the scoreless drought with Iowa State (8-8-2, 2-4-1).
TCU head coach Eric Bell said he was pleased with his team’s performance, admitting that the team had a little luck on its side.
“I like the way we battled, I thought we gave ourselves a chance,” Bell said after the match. “I think the soccer gods were with us today, as opposed to other days. We struggled at times but were still able to find a way to get the job done.”
Midway through the first half, TCU and Iowa State exchanged near-goals minutes apart from each other. TCU freshman keeper Shannon Coffer, who was playing in place of the injured redshirt junior Vittoria Arnold, got her fingertips on a shot from Iowa State forward Jennifer Dominguez, barely redirecting the ball off the lower left corner of the goalpost.
Prokof had an opportunity a minute later when she found herself open on a breakaway coming down the left side of the field but fired a shot over the crossbar.
ISU defender Jessica Reyes tested Coffer twice in one possession with 28 minutes left in the second half. First, Reyes took a free kick, shooting the ball over the TCU wall and in the direction of the upper right-hand corner. Coffer was able to leap and extend to the ball, blocking the shot out of play.
After the Cyclones took a corner kick, the ball bounced around, finding its way back to Reyes 20 yards out on the right side. Reyes floated a shot over the top of the TCU defense but her shot deflected off the crossbar and to TCU.
Near the halfway point in the second half, TCU broke the tie when Prokof took a pass from senior defender Kelly Johnson and launched a shot from the left of the Iowa State goalie box. Prokof was met as she was shooting by the Cyclones goalie, Maddie Jobe, who managed to deflect Prokof’s shot.
The ball deflected off the diving Jobe straight up into the air and then trickled into the unoccupied Cyclones goal.
Coffer was brilliant in goal all night, making several highlight saves and nine saves in total. Coffer recorded her first career shutout in the match against an Iowa State team that attacked her all night, firing 22 shots at the freshman.
“She was really good,” Bell said simply of his freshman goalie. “She gets a lot of credit for the ‘W’ with her play and some big saves, and her organization and communication out of the backfield were really good.
“I thought she had an outstanding game.”
Iowa State missed a pair of opportunities late in the game when Coffer twice raced out of the goal to beat a Cyclone player to the ball, both times leaving Iowa State with a shot at the open TCU net. Both Iowa State shots sailed wide of the goal.
Iowa State attempted nine corner kicks in the game, compared to TCU’s one.
The Horned Frogs return to the field in a week to play the rival Baylor Bears in TCU’s last home game of the season. The game kicks off at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 1.
