LUBBOCK, Texas \u2013 On a night of milestones including the 125th all-time win at the John Walker Soccer Complex as well as the much anticipated debut of the new Black Gladiator Patrick Mahomes Uniforms, RV\/No. 17 Texas Tech downed San Diego State, 2-1 in front of another crowd of 2800-plus at Ft. Walker.<\/p>\n
Looking to return to form, it was a trio of seniors that set the tone for Texas Tech (3-0-3) who scored twice for just the second time this season through the first six matches to improve to 49-0-1 over its last 50 instances when scoring twice.<\/p>\n
The Red Raiders also improved to 48-9-15 (.771) overall since the start of the 2023 season, moving Tech into a tie with TCU for the most wins in the Big 12 over the span.<\/p>\n
Tech also improved to 29-2-6 (.865) at Walker since the installation of the natural grass surface and to 26-1-5 (.891) in the regular season at Ft. Walker. The lone two losses were to UNC (2023; Round of 16) and to BYU (2024) in the regular season finale. \u00a0<\/p>\n
After a flying start that featured a textbook set piece goal from a perfect service from Eleanor Hays<\/a> that found her backline teammate Kylie Bahr<\/a> wide open on the doorstep, Tech quickly struck again at the 17:17 mark. The goals were the two fastest goals of the season.<\/p>\n Wide open and with nothing but net in front of her, Bahr redirected a header into the left-hand corner of the net for her first career goal.<\/p>\n Playing in her 65th career match (all starts) Bahr went the full 90 minutes just a mere 72 hours after playing 82 minutes in Tech’s 1-1 draw at SMU Thursday. The goal came on her 11th career shot-on-goal, as the defender eclipsed five thousand minutes for her career.<\/p>\n After putting her squad up 1-0, Bahr played a pivotal role in the Red Raiders ever-important second strike when she blew past the San Diego State (3-2-1) defense, turned the corner and delivered a strong ball to sixth-year Kaitlyn Giametta<\/a> whose shot was blocked by the Aztecs backline.<\/p>\n The rebound from the deflection fell to the ever-dangerous Taylor Zdrojewski<\/a> whose first shot attempt was saved by SDSUs Kailey Carlen before the striker buried her second attempt for career goal 30.<\/p>\n Zdrojewski became just the six all-time Red Raider to reach 30 goals and moved into a tie for fifth with Kristi Patterson for fifth on the all-time goal list. Zdrojewski needs just one more shot to tie Patterson for sixth on the all-time shot list and needs 10 points to reach Patterson’s 78 career points.<\/p>\n Up 2-0 at the break, the Red Raiders nearly made it 3-0 in the 66th minute when a rising Raleigh Greason<\/a> rocket eluded Carlen before clanging off the crossbar.<\/p>\n In control and less than 20 minutes away from a clean sheet, the match turned upside down just four seconds into the 71st minute when SDSUs Emma Fuller was yanked down by Bahr.<\/p>\n Originally called no foul, match referee Jake Joyce went to the VAR monitor and awarded a PK to SDSU. The PK was the first time an opponent has been awarded a PK against Tech since Oct. 17, 2024 at WVU when former GK Faith Nguyen<\/a> stopped a penalty in the 1-0 win over the Mountaineers.<\/p>\n The attempt was buried down the middle by SDSUs Katie Senn.<\/p>\n With the momentum, SDSU continued to surge forward forcing Tech goalkeeper Addie Todd<\/a> to make a pair of comfortable saves.<\/p>\n In the 85th minute Tech reserve Sophie Neves<\/a> tallied the 18th and final shot of the game when she nearly clipped the upper corner of the net on a header.<\/p>\n