The Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s soccer team was able to squeak out a 1-0 win against Texas Woman’s University on Tuesday night in their first Lone Star Conference game of the season. The Pioneers (2-6) were barely out-shot 7-6 by hosts A&M-Commerce, who now move to 6-3 on the year.
The first half greatly favored the Lions, as they pushed forward looking for the first goal. Senior Lacy Alexander was one of the main catalysts in attack, as she recorded three shots on the night. Devon Herrman also had three shots, and one of them proved to be the difference maker.
In the 27th minute, it was Herrman who provided the only goal of the game. After picking up the ball just outside of the penalty box, the sophomore SMU transfer sent a shot sailing just to the left of diving TWU goalkeeper Nori Morgan and into the right corner of the net. It was Herrman’s sixth goal of the season.
“All week long, we’ve been working on our forwards laying back to the midfield,” Herrman said about her game winning goal. “I either had the choice to play it back or take it myself, and I took two touches and hit it.”
Leading scorer Meagan Lasley was suspended for this game due to a red card she received in the previous match. Despite the offensive set-back, the Lions were able to put adequate pressure on the TWU goal.
“Texas Woman’s is a tough team, and I’m just glad we got the result,” head coach Neil Piper said. “We changed our formation around a little bit. We tried some different things, and some things that we’ve been working on in practice actually worked. We were unlucky not to have scored a couple more, but we’ve got some defensive things to work out.”
With Lasley out, the formation change saw Alexander return to a central attacking role she is more familiar with. The senior looked comfortable in performing her role and was a major part of the Lions’ offense.
“We started a new formation today, and that really played to my abilities a lot better than our other formation,” Alexander said. “Usually, we just play it long, up the field first time. This way, we get to play to feet and pass back. She (Lasley) would have been really good in this formation, and I like playing off of her.”
Piper was also happy about claiming a victory in his team’s first LSC match, especially against a team like Texas Woman’s.
“We’re going to be battling with these guys for a spot in the conference tournament, so to get a head-to-head win over them was very important,” he said. “There’s no easy conference win, so I’m just glad we got it.”
The Lions next game is against 10th ranked Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas, on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 3:30 p.m. They return home the following game on Oct. 9 to play West Texas A&M, which is ranked 4th in the South Central region, at 7:00 p.m.