GEORGETOWN, Texas — More than a year after winning the 2019 SCAC Championship, the Southwestern Pirates women's soccer team returned to Varsity Field with a 3-1 victory over Texas Lutheran University in the season opener.
"You have to be happy about coming away with the victory," head coach Linda Hamilton said. "Obviously, it's been a while since we played, so it was terrific to get a full 90 minutes in against a different opponent."
Southwestern opened the match slowly, showing a combination of nerves and rust. The Pirates were able to move the ball through the middle but struggled to puncture the Texas Lutheran defensive third, delivering passes too heavy or trying and failing to thread the needle through a thicket of Texas Lutheran defenders.
The Bulldogs took advantage early, with Liliana Avila getting behind the Pirate defense on a perfectly weighted pass from Madison Alexander for the goal five minutes into the match.
Southwestern answered late in the half when Whitney Whitehill took advantage of a downed Texas Lutheran University goalie after Elana Rivera made a diving save, delivering the rebound softly into the back of the net with a little more than a minute remaining in the half.
The Pirates went to work quickly in the second half when Maya Fuller turned the corner going middle off the opening possession, creating a shooting lane, and booming a shot past Rivera for the 2-1 lead.
Over the final 45 minutes, Southwestern showed sharper passing and a more impenetrable defense, scoring an insurance goal on a pair of beautiful one-touch passes that ended with Juilet Pridgen finding Annie Ewton in perfect stride in front of the wide-open net for the goal.
"With a long time off, it took us a while to find our rhythm," Hamilton said. "TLU is an outstanding, athletic team. I'm proud of the girls for how they got stranger as the game went on. We possessed the ball better, worked our combination play, and defensively, our backline was difficult to get behind. It was a solid first performance."
For more SU Pirate photos, please see Carlos Barron Photography