Texas Tech Soccer Makes NCAA Tournament as No. 6 Seed, Host UTSA on Friday in Lubbock
It’s November, which means Texas Tech soccer is playing in the postseason and for the third straight year the Red Raiders will open the NCAA Tournament at home. This season marks the 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, all of them coming under head coach Tom Stone since 2012.
Tech earned a No. 6 seed and will host UTSA in the first round at John Walker Soccer Complex Friday, November 14 at 6 pm CT. Tickets, until sold out, can be found here.
“These guys are carrying on a longstanding tradition of teams that really want this,” Stone said of his team earning a host seed and third straight bid. “It’s a proud moment for our department and our team to be able to get in the NCAA Tournament again.”
Texas Tech enters Friday with a record 13-2-4 overall and 7-1-3 in conference where they finished fourth in a stacked Big 12 who saw eight teams selected to the tournament this year. It’s a balanced team driven by their stout backline that boasted the best goals against average in the Big 12 while a relentless attack on the other end resulted in the most shots of any team in the conference as well.
The Red Raiders have been led by unanimous First-Team All-Big 12 Taylor Zdrojewski who leads the team and sits Top 10 nationally with 15 goals scored. She is helped by two-time All-American and two-time Big 12 Defender of the Year Macy Blackburn that is second in the nation in assists with 12 while also adding four goals of her own. Tech also saw seven additional players earn All-Big 12 honors: Sam Courtwright (first-team), Kylie Bahr (first-team), Peyton Parsons (first-team), Molly Skurcenski (second-team), Faith Nguyen (second-team), Eleanor Hays (second-team) and Raleigh Greason (All-Freshmen team.)
The team heads into the field with a fresh mindset after a first-round penalty kick loss to Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament, a result that stung, but reset their focus.
“Losing in the first round was not what we had pictured,” senior captain Macy Blackburn said. “But sometimes that’s the game… now we’ve had 10-plus days at home to regroup for the NCAA Tournament.”
For Tech’s senior core, November soccer has always been the plan though. And not the Big 12s either, the NCAA Tournament is what they play for in this program.
“We’ve always talked about November soccer, so finally getting here, we’re just excited to see how far we can go,” senior Peyton Parsons said.
UTSA arrives fresh off an American Conference Tournament title and a 10-5-6 overall record. They won the AAC tournament as an unseeded team needing to get past #1 seed and the nationally No. 3 ranked team in the country Memphis. They are coming in having battled their way in and full of belief they belong.
Sports always has a way of throwing in a few fun side plots as well and this Friday will be no different when a former Red Raider and member of the team’s historic 2023 team comes back to town.
Kameron (Kam) Kloza, former Texas Tech center back, now leads UTSA’s defensive line. When the Roadrunners clinched their conference tournament, Stone reached out to his former player immediately.
“Within two minutes of them winning the championship, I texted Kam and said congrats,” Stone said. “Never thought I’d be seeing her a week later.”
As friendly and perhaps fitting for all as the reunion feels, Stone knows the matchup itself won’t be easy.
“They know us well, we know them well,” he said. “It’s going to be a barn burner. I guarantee you it’s the hardest six-seed matchup in the country.”
Seed lines, resumes all go out the window when the games begin. What matters now is extending the season, defending Fort Walker and staying together as long as possible.
“It means everything, being here for five years at Tech, giving it everything I have,” Blackburn said. “I’m really excited for Friday, just knowing that we have a little bit more time to make something special happen. We like to think this Friday is not going to be our last game.”
She paused, then added the part that has driven every sprint, every training room treatment and team huddle over her time here.
“I think it’s exciting when we get another chance to play together. I never want to stop playing with these girls, so as long as I can keep playing and being next to them…that’s the goal.”
In the words of Texas Tech’s own Joey McGuire “SOMEBODY PLAY SOME DAMN MUSIC” and more specifically fire up ‘Anything Can Happen’ on repeat. It’s time to make a little November history.
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