Texas State Soccer: Roller coaster to Playoffs

by Jourdan Bazley
Sports Reporter

Texas State Soccer has highlighted this season with a notable recurring list of wins. Instead of saying, “since 2011” or “in the past”, reporters can finally put 2015 up on the list as the last reputable year. On the road this season, there have been many great games, with a few defeats sprinkled within. With that said, the next stop Texas State should be looking to make is playoffs. The curious question is what will it take for the team to achieve this goal? How will the next few games need to go in order for the conference rank of the team to be good enough to get them to playoffs? Well, let’s see.

Analyzing the season:

The 2015 season started off with wins against both UTSA and Houston, two big names that posed a challenge that Texas State was able to demolish. Right off the bat, Lynsey Curry and Lauren Prater became names that are pegged on a number of articles on the Texas State Soccer archive. Texas A&M Corpus Christi was the beginning mark of what has been the best start for the soccer team since 2011. A seven game win streak was held on to as the girls worked their way to the top, and began to fight through the Sun Belt Conference. As a team, Texas State has shown that their takes on gaining points are in the works. The girls have a 49.5% average of kicks on goal and have totaled the number of goals made in just these games so far, to 25 goals. The range between shots and kicks on goal shows the precision and focus of the team. Lauren Prater has had 24 shots on goal, which trails Lynsey Curry by five. Another name is sophomore Kassi Hormuth, who has been there to assist most of the shots fired by Curry and Prater. The Bobcats have 20 assists so far; four of those have been from Hormuth. Hormuth currently has three goals this season, which is leading the number of goals right behind Curry and Prater. Plays like these shift the attention from the higher-level players to the newer teammates as the girls work to make an impact as the up-incoming members.

Getting to the Play-Offs:

This season the team is 2-3-0 in the Sun Belt Conference, and is sitting at number six in the standings. Texas State isn’t doing so bad, considering the top six teams from the conference make it to the playoffs. Although being sixth in the ranking puts Texas State in the tournament, the team should be really focusing on getting as high as possible. Guaranteeing entry to the competition is great and being in the standing to bypass the first game of the bracket would be ideal. What would it take to really put Texas State further to the top than they are now? The Bobcats still have to face three conference foes that are ahead of them in the standings in UL Lafayette, Georgia State, and Georgia Southern. Of course the team is looking to win against these opponents to definitely bring up their ranking in Sun Belt, but they also need to watch who they absolutely cannot lose to, and who their opponents are winning and losing to as well. If Texas State is able to win against UL Lafayette tonight, they will move up to spot five, which will only set them to keep moving up if they continue on to win against Georgia State. As long as the team is able to secure three wins total, they can be on their way to moving closer to guaranteed spots in the Sun Belt. According to the standings, between UL Lafayette and Georgia State only differ by a loss and a tie. By keeping an eye on the other team’s wins and losses will provide Texas State with the insight they need to know where their wins are needed in order to move up in the rankings. Bobcat Nation will watch and root for the girls as they play these next few critical games. Tonight Texas State will look to take the fight against UL Lafayette at 7:00pm, which will be an important game to follow. Let’s go Bobcats!