MARSHALL, Texas – Going into the final weekend of the regular season, the East Texas Baptist University women's soccer team will be hosting both the University of Texas Dallas and Howard Payne University. The first game will take place on Friday at Freedom Fields in Bossier City, Louisiana while Saturday's finale will be at Cornish Field.
Last weekend saw ETBU come away with two shutout wins against Belhaven University and Louisiana College. Against BU, ETBU scored seven goals including two-goal games from Ashleigh Rondon, Brianna Mickshaw, and Daphne Hunt while Raegan Kappler had the seventh goal for the Tigers. Then, ETBU came away with a double-overtime 1-0 win over LC as Rondon would head in the game-winner. Rondon's performance over the weekend earned her ASC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors. Meanwhile, Maddie Rea was in net for both games preserving two shutouts.
Rondon remains ETBU's leader in all three offensive categories, including goals (eight), shots (58) and assists (five). Rea has a goals against average stat of 1.64 while making 34 saves.
The two wins also mean ETBU has put themselves back in the ASC Conference tournament picture as they are currently seventh in the conference with a 4-5 record to go with a 7-6-1 overall record. For head coach Erik Solberg, the play of his team showed the team's capability of bouncing back to the thick of the race despite an up-and-down season. "It was a big weekend for us," said Coach Solberg. "It was mission accomplished. We really took care of business against Belhaven. Against LC, it was a little bit of a struggle on shorter rest with the kickoff at noon. It's a tough field and a tough location to play on. But our girls did enough to win. It was a much better week for us and it puts in a really good place in the driver's seat to make our third conference tournament in a row."
ETBU's final test of the season will be at the hands of UTD. The game was supposed to be on Thursday at Cornish Field. But because of weather conditions, it got moved to Friday at Freedom Fields. All-time, including last season's 1-0 loss, ETBU has managed two wins and two ties in 21 meetings all-time against UTD. Currently third in the ASC, the Comets are 13-1-1 overall while securing a 7-1-1 conference record coming off a 2-1 loss to Sul Ross State University. Sofia Munoz has a team-leading seven goals while Jacquie Kaufman records six assists. In goal, Monica Dallacasa has allowed a GAA of 0.29 surrendering four goals while making 40 saves.
Then, ETBU will close out the regular season at home against HPU, whom they have a 6-5-1 record all-time, including a 5-1 win in Brownwood last season. HPU has a 2-10-1 record with both wins coming in conference play. This after losing two consecutive double overtime games 2-1 to both McMurry University and SRSU. Four players have two goals apiece in Jada Austin, Brittany Cortez, Lesly Garia, and Dayane Gutierrez, who also has two assists along with Mariah Gonzales. Goalkeeper Delaney Castor maintains a GAA of 2.37 while making 102 saves.
Saturday will also be senior day as two players in Megan Friend and Cristal Monzon-Hernandez will be recognized for their outstanding careers at ETBU. The Tigers will look to provide the perfect tribute with a win against the Yellow Jackets as Solberg remarks. "We owe it to our seniors hopefully to get six points again on the weekend," said Coach Solberg. "And hopefully, we win on Saturday against Howard Payne and take the show on the road to the conference tournament. Then hopefully, we just keep on playing and extending their careers.
Friday's game will take place at 3:30 PM while Saturday's contest will start at 5:00 PM.
