University Star

The Bobcats will take on Texas Southern (1-7) in an attempt to end a five-game winless streak Friday Sept. 21 at the Bobcat Soccer Complex. The game marks the end of soccer’s non-conference schedule.

It has been four games, spread across 21 days, since Texas State has scored a goal. That’s the longest soccer has gone without a goal during the season since the university changed its name to Texas State. The Bobcats are going into the contest with a record of 2-7-1.

“We need to relieve the pressure with our attack and keep possession,” Coach Kat Conner said before practice Wednesday. “We can’t just give it away. We need to shoot more, but also look for better chances. That’s what we’re working on, and hopefully we’ll see that come alive this weekend and of course carry it on into the WAC.”

The Tigers are coming into town on a two-game skid with defensive woes being the main issue. Texas Southern has been outscored 30-8 in eight games this season, and on average is giving up just south of four goals a game. The Bobcats are determined to capitalize on that issue this weekend.

“I’m very confident that we can score goals, and I hope this game is a confidence booster for us as a team going into our tougher weekend,” junior midfielder Sydney Curry said. “Hopefully on Friday, we can light them up and score, score, score. Even though we came off two unfortunate losses, we still had two very good games. It’s starting to click.”

The Bobcats know they must take advantage of the opportunities to score a goal. Senior forward Serena Hines was the last one to do so, in a 1-1 tie to Houston Baptist, her only goal of the year.

“I think that we’ve obviously been really motivated after these last couple of games,” senior defender Taylor Person said. “(We’ve) just been getting frustrated, but we are handling it well. We’ve been practicing hard, and we’ve done a great job just finishing in practice and hopefully it will show in Friday’s game.”

The last time these two squads played a match was seven years ago when Texas State blew out Texas Southern 13-0. The Bobcats hope the same can happen now to give them a big boost in confidence heading into their first WAC game on Sept. 28 against the University of Idaho.

Follow Odus Evbagharu on Twitter: @TState_Sports18