Tigers Show Signs Of Improvement At North Texas

DENTON, Texas – Texas Southern wrapped up the opening weekend of soccer action as they fell to North Texas.

Picked to win Conference USA, North Texas opened the match with a quick score from Logan Bruffett. After the quick score, TSU would settle down and held the Mean Green scoreless as goalie Salma Ghazal recorded three saves during that span. However, the deficit grew to 3-0 at the close of the first half after a pair of late goals by UNT in the final eight minutes.

UNT would increase its lead with a goal 10 minutes into the second half but TSU would continue to fight on the defensive end by holding UNT scoreless until the 87th minute.

Despite the outcome, first-year head coach Lindsay Vera was pleased her team’s efforts on Sunday.

“Today was another good test for us. We played a very strong, athletic team who looks to play over top,” said Vera. “We have been focused on defensive organization and moments of transition and I was extremely pleased with how we handled ourselves today with respect to those topics.”

With the season still in the early stages, developing chemistry has been one of the biggest areas Vera and staff continue to work on as eighteen players saw action on Sunday.

“We were able to make a lot of subs in both games this weekend which is beneficial for us in the long run,” Vera said. “Because of this, it seems the players are starting to connect more and the chemistry is becoming more obvious each game. We’ll continue emphasizing recovery while we work on the attacking phase this week.”

The Tigers are back in action Friday night at SMU in Dallas at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the team will open at home versus Incarnate Word at 1 p.m.