Back to Business: No. 5 Texas Tech Handles Kansas State 3–1 on Senior Day
Behind a brace from Taylor Zdrojewski and a goal from senior Macy Blackburn, No. 5 Texas Tech bounced back in a big way on Senior Day, defeating Kansas State 3–1.
“I think it was a great tribute to our seniors,” head coach Tom Stone said. “The best gift we can give to you guys is helping you win on senior day. … To honor that group of seniors who have won so many stinking games here is really a big deal to us, so we’re glad we got to do that.”
The win moved Texas Tech to 13–2–2 overall and 7–1–2 in Big 12 play as the Red Raiders move into their final regular season game of the year Thursday night against UCF in Lubbock.
Texas Tech Stat Leaders
Taylor Zdrojewski – 3 shots, 2 shots on goal, 2 goals, 1 assist, 80 min
Macy Blackburn – 1 shot, 1 shot on goal, 1 goal, 87 min
Sam Courtwright – 1 shot, 1 shot on goal, 2 assists, 81 min
Molly Skurcenski – 1 shot, 1 assist, 90 min
Alana Harry – 1 assist, 63 min
How It Happened
Texas Tech wasted little time setting the tone. In the 20th minute, a Tech counter through the midfield allowed Taylor Zdrojewski to find space just outside the box. She took a touch and buried a low shot inside the far post past the diving Kansas State keeper to make it 1–0.
Before Zdrojewski could even answer when asked about her elite finishing abilities, senior captain Macy Blackburn jumped in — “She’s awesome,” Blackburn said, smiling.
Zdrojewski followed with a more humble team focused answer as per usual (but Blackburn is right….Z is awesome.)
“I have an amazing team around me that prepares me, practices every day, that give me amazing balls in the game. And I also have faith in, like Faith [Nguyen] today, an amazing save. So I know that it’s my job to put a ball in the back of the net and y’all are going to keep it out on the back line.”
Kansas State responded in the second half however during a hectic stretch after Faith Nguyen produced back-to-back highlight saves — one a full-extension punch to push a drive headed for the upper-90 over the bar. The Wildcats finally broke through off chaos in front of goal a few minutes later to level the match 1–1.
Stone said that moment though only refocused his team.
“That gave us a chance to lift our level again and go take it to them,” he said. “That’s been one of our real strong suits this year. When someone scores on us … we really come back hard, and we did that today.”
Zdrojewski said the message in the huddle after that goal was straight forward as it always is with this experienced team.
“I think in any huddle, we know that we’re going to fight for the game, not just for 45, not for 60, but the full 90,” she said. “And no matter how many goals we get scored on, I think this team is always going to have faith that we can come back to win if we’re tied or if we’re behind. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t get that goal.”
In the 68th minute, Texas Tech’s response turned into a dagger. The Red Raiders worked the ball beautifully through Emma Torres and Molly Skurcenski, then out wide to Alana Harry. She served a dangerous ball into the box, where Raleigh Greason flicked it back towards Zdrowjewski who smashed it out of the air and into the back of the net for her second goal of the game and 15th of the season. She now ranks fourth all-time at Tech for goals in a single season.
“I’m so happy to play out there with Raleigh on the field,” Zdrojewski said. “One of my old coaches used to always say to have your stick on the ice, you know, ready to shoot. And so I have faith in Raleigh that she’s going to challenge the ball and I can be there to finish it up. And vice versa — that’s what we got to do for each other.”
Moments later, Macy Blackburn added the exclamation point with a curling cross that bent around the keeper and into the far post. The goal is always a goal she joked when asked if she was in fact trying to score off that effort.
“I like to say it was a perfect cross, and it had a perfect result — a goal,” Blackburn laughed. “I think that’s the goal of a cross, to have a goal at the end of it. Just so happened the cross ended up being a goal.”
Stone was happy with his team’s bounce back after the Thursday loss to No. 22 Colorado saying they looked exactly like the team he knows they are.
“It was really important that we felt like our old selves today — that we walk off the field like, yeah, that was a whooping,” he said. “We were the better team; we deserved it. Credit to K State for such a great season. The job Colleen is doing is remarkable because it’s not ever happened there. That team believes they’re gonna win and so they’ve had some great results this year.”
Before kickoff, Texas Tech also honored its six seniors: Macy Blackburn, Peyton Parsons, Molly Skurcenski, Kate Leibel, Chloe Japić, and Faith Nguyen. More to come on this special senior class and why what they did here was so uniquely impactful later this week.
Next Up: Home Versus UCF Thursday 10/30
Texas Tech closes out the regular season with a matchup with a salty UCF team who took down Top 25 Baylor on Thursday. The Golden Knights enter the contest 4-1-4 in conference and 10-2-4 overall record. First touch at 7 pm at the John Walker Soccer Complex in Lubbock. BE THERE!
Game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Photo Gallery: No. 5 Texas Tech vs. Kansas State Soccer
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