Texas State Soccer (8-2-5, 5-0-3 SBC) continued its historic unbeaten streak at home with a 6-1 victory over the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (2-12-1, 1-7-0 SBC) Sunday evening at the Bobcat Soccer Complex.
This win clinched the Bobcats a spot in the Sun Belt Tournament for the second consecutive season in head coach Steve Holeman’s tenure and extended the team’s home unbeaten streak in conference play to 15 games.
Texas State rotated a lot of players throughout the game, which is a bit of a rarity in conference play, but it was clear from the beginning of the match that the Bobcats were in full control of the pace of play.
“It’s a feel-good win. Everyone obviously is very happy, everyone got the get into the game,” Holeman said after the game. “We don’t get to do that very often or at all, so it was nice for players that do so much work and play such a big role in this team to get some kind of minutes on the field.”
In the 16th minute, Texas State opened the scoring thanks to freshman midfielder Alexis Montgomery, assisted by fellow freshman midfielder Matsuri Tsutsui, who delivered an in-swinging corner that found Montgomery’s head on the far post.
In the 29th minute, the Bobcats doubled their advantage thanks to graduate defender Kennley Bradley, who, just like Montgomery on the previous goal, got her head on the ball, this time from a cross on the right side of the pitch.
In the 43rd minute, Southern Mississippi retaliated with a goal against the run of play from Senior forward Taylor Stewart, who scored from long range and freshman goalkeeper Brooklyn Escobar had no chance of saving it.
While the scoreline was close in the first half, the second half was when the game started to open up and the quality began to show for the Bobcats.
“It was a close game at halftime,” Holeman said. “Once [the game] opened up, things started to go well for us.”
Sophomore defender Jenny Ngankem was assisted by Tsutsui for the third goal of the game for Texas State in the 53rd minute. Tsutsui finished the match with three assists, matching a program record for a single game.
In the 61st minute, senior forward Mady Soumare scored her first goal of the match, a tight finish to the left of the goalkeeper, further extending the lead for Texas State and essentially putting the game out of Southern Mississippi’s reach.
Just a few minutes later, the Bobcats showed that they weren’t done, as Montgomery scored her second goal of the match, and it was an absolute banger from outside the box that rattled the inside of the left post.
Texas State wrapped up the scoring in the 89th minute with a beauty of a shot. Ngankem slung the ball to the back post from a corner on the right side, where it went in directly, missing everyone’s heads and giving Ngankem a goal-of-the-season contender on top of her first goal of the game.
The Bobcats will try to continue their unbeaten season in the Sun Belt with their last regular-season away matchup against South Alabama at The Cage in Mobile, Ala. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. The match will be available to stream on ESPN+.
