TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler women's soccer team will finish up play in the 2021 season this week with a road trip to St. Mary's on Wednesday night and Senior Day at home against Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon.
The Patriots have been eliminated from postseason contention following their third overtime loss against a top Lone Star Conference side on Saturday afternoon, and will now look to close out 2021 on a high note in this week's matches. UT Tyler enters the final week of play with a 5-9 record and a 3-8 record in Lone Star Conference play.
The program will recognize five seniors-
Madeline Beavers,
Korey Cyr,
Megan Watts,
Taylor Dickens and
Kiersten Ehler- ahead of Saturday's 2 p.m. kick off against Eastern New Mexico.
TAKING THE BEST TO THE BRINK
A UT Tyler women's soccer roster that featured a majority of freshman and sophomore production throughout 2021 proved that the future is bright in Tyler with a couple of highlighted efforts against the best the Lone Star Conference had to offer in 2021. The Patriots forced overtime against the second and fifth ranked teams in the LSC this season, most recently in a 2-1 double overtime loss to a Midwestern State team that sits in a tie for second place with 24 points in league play.
The Patriots took the side that the Mustangs are tied with in second place in the LSC standings to overtime as well, falling by a 2-1 final to Texas Woman's. Those two teams needed extra time to put away a young and talented UT Tyler side despite combining for a 15-4-3 record in conference play.
West Texas A&M, who enters the final week of play ranked fifth in the league with 21 points and a record of 7-4 in conference play, also needed overtime in a 5-4 loss for the Patriots back on Oct. 9
th.
UT Tyler is just 2-5 in one-score games up to this point in the schedule, but could have easily had the majority of those results shifted back in their favor with just a few minor adjustments or different bounces of the ball. Make no mistake, the 5-9 record for UT Tyler does not tell the whole story of the potential this roster will have in the coming years.
EYE-OPENING YOUTHFULLNESS
Head coach
Stefani Webb was forced to pull out all of the tricks in her 17
th season as head coach of the Patriots as an already young roster was forced to feature a majority of underclassman throughout 2021. 50 of the 57 points scored in 2021 have come from either freshman or sophomores on the 2021 roster.
The combination of
Faith Adje,
Vanessa Bart and
Jordan Colbert, all three of which are underclassman, have developed throughout the 2021 season and have formed what could be a three-headed offensive monster for years to come for the Patriots. The trio has combined for 35 points in 2021 with five goals from Colbert, four goals and two assists from Adje, and a pair of goals and an assist from Bart.
The defensive effort has been decimated from injuries to key figures for coach Webb, forcing the emergence of names such as
Brooklyn Robinson,
Kylie Criner and
Sydnee Garner to step into key roles on the defensive backline and midfield rotation for UT Tyler. Those three freshman, along with a host of other faces, have enjoyed a wealth of valuable game minutes in 2021 that should set up the core of the returning roster in 2022 for success.
IT'S NOT OVER YET
The importance of the last two matches of 2021 for the Patriots cannot be overstated as the program completes it's first year as full-fledged Division II members in 2021. St. Mary's currently holds the final spot in the LSC Postseason Tournament race in seventh place with 17 points, and will face a basic must-win on Wednesday if they hope to stay in one of the seven places available in the tournament.
Eastern New Mexico has not won a conference match, going 0-10-1 in their 11 games, and should provide a manageable opponent to conclude the 2021 season for UT Tyler.
SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH ST. MARY'S
St. Mary's has won two out of their last three matches entering Wednesday evening's meeting with the Patriots to move their league record to 5-4-2 in 2021. The Rattlers are 8-6-2 overall on the year with a goal differential of +8.
St. Mary's has scored 28 goals in 2021 while conceding just 20, and ranks third in the LSC with an average of 4.50 points per contests.
Juni Ejere and Megan Copeland lead St. Mary's with six goals each in 2021. Miranda Narvaez has paced the Rattlers with 36 shots, while Eliza Merrion and Ejere have each totaled 30. Rebecca Defronzo has spent the majority of time in goal for the Rattlers, totaling 71 saves for a save percentage of .826.
UT Tyler defeated St. Mary's in the program's lone meeting back on Nov. 2, 2019 by a 2-0 final tally.
SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH EASTERN NEW MEXICO
Eastern New Mexico has lost seven straight matches entering the final week of 2021 and has posted an overall record of 2-13-1 in head coach Abbey Barnum's first year at the helm of the program. The Greyhounds have scored just 10 goals in 2021, and have conceded a total of 29 to their opposition.
Katey Stice is the only Greyhound to have notched multiple goals on the year with five, while the other five goals have each come off the foot of different individuals. Keeper Whitney Dockweiler has spent all 1,469 minutes of the 2021 season for Eastern New Mexico in net, and has accumulated 106 saves.
Eastern New Mexico narrowly edged UT Tyler in the previous meeting between the two programs back in 2019, scoring a 2-1 win over the Patriots back on Oct. 3, 2019.
