Texas Tech Fights For Late Draw with Undefeated Houston
On a night Texas Tech was far from playing to their standard, the Red Raiders flipped the switch late and fought their way to a 1–1 draw with Houston on Thursday. Senior captain Macy Blackburn delivered the equalizer from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute to salvage an all important point in a Big 12 heavy with parity in 2025.
While one team in Houston was celebrating the draw, the Texas Tech huddle showed a much different scene.
“No, definitely not satisfied with that,” answered head coach Tom Stone following the game. “The number of times we kicked the ball out of bounds or kicked it right to the other team… that was us being poor and not our best performance at home for sure. Fortunate that we got the opportunity to tie it late and salvage the point. Houston, I said before, this is a team that’s on the move. I think Ben’s done a phenomenal job. There’s a reason he got great results everywhere he’s ever been, and he’s getting great results here. So Houston deserves a lot.”
Texas Tech Stat Leaders
Macy Blackburn – 2 shots, 2 shots on goal, 1 goal, 90 min
Taylor Zdrojewski – 4 shots, 84 min
Skylar Haase – 2 shots, 1 shot on goal, 32 min
How It Happened
The first half played out a bit like a game of possession tug-of-war with both teams probing but neither creating many clear chances. Texas Tech looked dangerous when it switched the ball to the flanks but too often passes sailed out of bounds or straight to Houston defenders. Tech’s best opportunities came off a Blackburn shot attempt that forced a Houston save and two late corners as time expired in the first half punched out by Lexi Gonzales.
“We were really good at going from side to side,” explained Stone. “We kept looking for numbers up situations on the flank and when we got them we looked really dangerous. And then we just got away from it.”
Early in the second half Houston capitalized. Pressing high and countering quickly, the Cougars broke through in the 60th minute on a beautiful shot form the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week Samira Minor to take a 1–0 lead. Stone admitted his team’s poor decisions played right into Houston’s strengths.
“They’re a really good counter attacking team and they have good athletes up front. Our poor decision-making was made worse by that.”
With about 20 minutes to play Stone made an aggressive tactical shift to a 4-3-3, moving Blackburn upfront and urging his team forward. The change produced waves of pressure that finally cracked Houston’s back line when Skurcenski earned a foul in the box after pushing up into the attack herself as well.
“We have 15 minutes to just apply constant pressure,” Stone told his players during a stoppage. “Molly’s a holding mid, she’s all the way up in their box on the dribble and got fouled from behind. That’s what saved us.”
Blackburn calmly buried the penalty in the 83rd minute, bringing Tech level. Stone, while proud of his team for not giving in and fighting for the equalizer, noted the urgency came far too late.
“I was happy that we were so scrappy for the last 15 minutes. The question is where was that for 75 minutes? And we’re gonna have to find that.”
Final Stats:
Goals: UH 60’ (Minor) | TTU 83’ (Blackburn PK, earned by Skurcenski)
Shots: TTU 10, UH 8
Corners: TTU 10, UH 4
Fouls: TTU 11, UH 4
Next Up: Away at Iowa State 1pm, Sunday 9/28
Texas Tech relied on same late game game changers off the bench in the Houston draw and will need them to contribute once again with a quick turnaround game on Sunday.
“The ones we put on did a great job,” said Coach Stone about the changes mate late in the Houston game. “Gianna Gregoire particularly sparked us, Skylar was grea, Sophie was great. Lana did really well…all those players are gonna get more minutes or have the opportunity to get more minutes because we’re playing on Sunday at one, right? It’s already Thursday night. So, the clock’s recovery is really important.”
The draw moved the Red Raiders to 7-1-1 overall and 1-0-1 in Big 12 play heading into Sunday’s road test at Iowa State.
“I think we’re walking out of the fire and walking into the frying pan… we gotta give them full respect and we gotta be better than we were tonight.”
First touch is scheduled for 1 pm in Ames, Iowa. Game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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