Texas State Soccer Team hits the Road to Take on Northwestern State

by Matthew Hamill
Assistant Sports Director

The Texas State Bobcats soccer team will be on the road this weekend, tonight at Northwestern State, looking to build off of their first home win of the season against Prairie View A&M. Assistant Head coach for the Bobcat soccer team, Link Scoggins, said the key to the Bobcats road success stems from knowing your opponent.

“We’re watching film, and we just break down what SFA (Stephen F. Austin) is going to try to do, what Northwestern is going to try to do.” Scorns said. “So in that sense it’s very much the same in preparation, but not every team plays the team plays the same so with that being said some of those preparations are different, but it’s the same idea to where we watch film, we get scout reports on the teams and we do what we need to to beat their schemes and strategies.”

The Bobcats have had no problem defeating teams on the road, rattling of victories against Houston, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and even USTA in a road exhibition game. The Bobcats are currently 3-2 overall in competitive play, after recording two impressive wins the first weekend of September.

With all of the attack minded players on the team, the defensive anchors can sometimes be forgotten. The Bobcats play with only three players on the defense, leaving those three players with the massive responsibility of being the last line of defense.

Most professional teams play with a back line consisting of four players, however one less defender gives a team another attacking player on the field. Coach Scoggins said it’s up to the outside midfielders to provide cover for the defenders.

“With the wide players, well it’s all eleven of them, in the flanks it’s up to those wide players to make sure they are getting those shifts properly because what we don’t want, is with three back you can get exposed on that back side so if our back side wing-back is disciplined, they’ll tuck in almost as another outside back and give us more of a four back look. So with those three and those two wing-backs they’re doing a good job of almost, I know I just said four, but almost a five if you can imagine the shift and the press, that we have going with them. And they are doing it absolutely brilliantly right now, so they’re all working to make sure we don’t get exposed.”

Texas State’s defense has only allowed one goal in their last two games, proving that as a unit their midfield is covering the defense effectively.

The Bobcats were able to return to scoring form against A&M Corpus Christi and Prairie View A&M, scoring a combined five goals in the two games. Goals came from Kira Zapalac, Lauren Prater (2), Kassi Hormuth, and Taylor Allen. Coach Scoggins said it is good team to be scoring from a variety of players, and it can only help the prolific Lyndsey Curry.

“I mean it’s perfect because Lyndsey, now going into her fourth year, third year in the Sun-Belt, people know of Lyndsey Curry and they know that she is a deadly striker. So now with those other goal scorers in the picture, they’re having to worry about those goal scorers as well, maybe freeing up Curry to maybe a 1-v-1 or even some free space. Then it’s a constant battle from their, are they gonna mark this one or are they gonna mark this one? So it’s miles of help for us.”

The Bobcats will look to improve on their 3-2 record with more road wins before returning home to the Bobcat Soccer complex on the 18th of September, taking on New Mexico State.

The Northwestern State Demons are in goal scoring form coming of a 10-0 demolition against Alcorn. So in order to continue their success on the road, the Bobcats will need both their offense and defense to play well.