TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler completed an undefeated opening weekend on Saturday afternoon with a convincing 5-1 victory over East Central.
The Patriots found the net twice in the opening 10 minutes of the game and totaled 30 shots for the contest to complete their second dominant win of the weekend after notching a 2-0 victory over Rogers State on Thursday night. Junior
Natalie Jones scored twice on Saturday, adding to her goal in the Rogers State win for three on the weekend.
The five goals in the victory matches the highest goal total against a Division II opponent for the program. The other five-goal performance against Division II competition came against UT Permian Basin back on Oct. 2
nd, 2019.
Graduate student
Sydnee Garner put the first goal of the opening 10 minutes in the back of the net just 32 seconds after the opening whistle. Jones scored her first goal just a few minutes later in the eighth minute to double the advantage at 2-0 on what was effectively a tap-in after set-up touches from
Launa Torrez and
Alyssa Palisi.
The Patriots didn't concede a shot for the first 35 minutes of the match while putting forth 11 efforts of their own over that stretch.
Senior
Jacqueline Wiebe added a third goal of the first half with two minutes left, finding the back of the net with a pinpoint strike from just outside the Tiger box. UT Tyler outshot East Central by a 13-to-3 margin in the opening half and put six of those efforts on target.
East Central cut the lead to 3-1 eight minutes into the second half before Jones struck for the third time over the course of opening weekend, dishing in a deflection off the East Central keeper in the 55
th minute.
Junior
Brooke Mullins capped off the scoring with a goal in the 77
th minute to bring the score to it's eventual 5-1 final.
Seven different Patriots earned a point in the offensive explosion as
Gabrielle Wiebe,
Alyssa Palisi and
Launa Torrez were all credited with an assist.
UT Tyler moves to 2-0 on the year while East Central falls to 1-1.
The Patriots will stay at home for their next match on Saturday, Sept. 14
th against Jarvis Christian College at 1 p.m.