TUCSON, Ariz. – Raleigh Greason scored for the second time in three matches while fellow striker Taylor Zdrojewski netted her 13th goal of the season (third this week) to push No. 12/4 Texas Tech to a 2-0 road win over Arizona Sunday afternoon at Murphy Field at Mulchay Stadium.
In what turned out to be Texas Tech’s (12-1-2, 6-0-2 Big 12) ninth-straight Big 12 win, the Red Raiders used the two first half goals to close out a key win that keeps Tech atop the Big 12 table with just three matches to go in the regular season.
After uncharacteristically surrendering a two-goal lead in just under 15 minutes on Thursday night, the stout Red Raider back line anchored by goalkeeper Faith Nguyen limited Arizona (7-9-0, 2-6-0 Big 12) to just seven total shots and three shots-on-goal.
With the clean sheet, her eighth of the season, Nguyen moved into a tie with Madison White (2021) and Stephanie Carter (1995) for seventh place on the Red Raiders single-season clean sheet list.
Sunday’s shutout for Nguyen was also her 18th career as the UCLA transfer will need just one more clean sheet to tie Marissa Zucchetto for fourth all-time on the Red Raiders shutout list.
After a seventh minute shot went wide of the mark for Greason, the freshman buried her second of five total shots just 25 seconds into the 10th minute. The shot, a riser into the top-right corner was made possible due to a perfect throw-in by Peyton Parsons who recorded her fourth helper of the afternoon.
Arizona’s best and really only chance of the afternoon to find the back of the net came in the 22nd minute when Narissa Fults’ shot from a one-v-one chance with Nguyen clanged off top corner of the net where the crossbar and post meet.
The Red Raiders quickly took the momentum back from UofA in the 34th minute when Emiilie McCartney played Macy Blackburn in space. After a nearly 40-yard run Blackburn rolled a perfect ball that Zdrojewski was able slot home past a diving Olivia Ramey.
Armed with the 2-0 lead, the Red Raiders allowed just four more shots total, none of them particularly dangerous.
With the assist on Sunday, Blackburn recorded her 10th helper of the season, marking the third-straight season that the versatile outside back has recorded 10 assists. She narrowly missed out on a fourth, 10-assist season in 2021 when she had nine helpers.
In the victory and with the point she did record her 60th career-point to move into solo seventh place on the Texas Tech all-time points list.
HEAD COACH TOM STONE:
“It was a five-day trip to Arizona. October was kind to us in Tempe and not so kind to us in Tucson. It was really hot today and it’s a grind to go on the road in the Big 12, especially for two road matches. We were fortunate that it’s only an hour and 40 minutes between Tucson and Tempe, but it took every bit of most of our roster to get through both games. After giving up a lead on Thursday and getting it back at the end, we were emotionally and physically drained. Our sports performance team did an unbelievable job of getting everyone ready. And then Raleigh [Greason] and Z [Zdrojewski] scoring again. For Z it was her 13th and Raliegh it was her third. Raleigh doesn’t score the run-of-the-mill goals. She just scores bangers. So we were happy for her and what a great way to start the game for us. To get that goal and get moving forward on these guys.”
On the combination between Zdrojewski and Blackburn:
“It is fun to watch that relationship because Macy knows very clearly what kind of ball, Z needs. To which foot, she hits her in stride. It’s all calculated. It’s not like ‘oh there’s Z’ and smashes it at her. Macy is very calculated, and Z also knows Macy can get her the ball. Part of playing with Macy is, she’s like the quarterback and all of the wide receivers are open. You just have to put your hand up and ask for it. Macy is like that. If you’re open, Macy will reward you. And Z has taken advantage of that several times. It was a classic Z finish and the timing of her run was great. It was a great pass by Macy like we said and she slipped it by the keeper. We’re glad to have a goal scorer like that on our team and glad she has another year.”
UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders close out the road portion of their regular season slate on Thursday night with another top-25 showdown at Colorado. First touch from Boulder is set for 8 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (MT).