TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's soccer stayed balanced offensively with goals from three different scorers to continue the program's best start in the Division II era with a 3-1 victory over Ouachita Baptist on Thursday night.
Cephana Deane,
Samaris Alvarado and
Melissa Olliveira found the back of the night in the win as UT Tyler continued to stay in control against the Tigers for what is now their fourth straight victory to open up the 2022 season. Deane and Alvarado put the first two goals on the board for the Patriots and then Olliveira provided the insurance goal midway through the second half to make an Ouachita Baptist penalty kick goal obsolete in the result.
Deane intercepted and redirected an errant Ouachita Baptist pass right in front of their own net to make it 1-0 in favor of the Patriots in the 13
th minute. Alvarado then made a beautiful sequence of passes from senior
Jordan Colbert and junior
Sydnee Garner count with a second score less than 10 minutes later.
UT Tyler out-shot the Tigers 11-to-6 in the first half, and had their only hiccup of the opening 45 minutes when a handball led to a penalty kick goal for the Tigers in the 38
th minute. Keeper
Camri Cecil kept that 2-1 score in-tact into the halftime break with two of the six saves on the night for the senior in the final five minutes or so of the opening half.
The Patriots then took the first six shots of the second half before Olliveira put a beautiful cross from sophomore
Faith Adje into the back of the net in the 72
nd minute for an insurance goal. That goal looked like it was going to be needed as the Tigers were awarded their second penalty kick of the match in the 87
th minute, but were unable to convert on the opportunity to bring the score to it's eventual 3-1 final.
UT Tyler outshot the Tigers by a 20-to-9 margin, and Cecil made stops on six out of the seven shot on goal attempts to keep the positive momentum moving for the Patriots in 2022. UT Tyler will have a chance to move to 5-0 for the first time in the program's history on Saturday afternoon against Harding.
Alvarado proved to be the offensive spark plug for UT Tyler once again in Thursday's victory, posting seven shots to lead the team, while also making it four straight games with a goal to open up her Patriot career.
Saturday's match against Harding is slated to begin at 1 p.m.