TU sports journalist Santi Serrano brings the action from last Tuesday’s soccer game that Tulsa took 3-2.
Last Tuesday at the Hurricane stadium, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane played Oklahoma Baptist University as they prepared for their upcoming conference. Right out of the gate, the game started out explosively with TU taking starting possession and then proceeding to score a goal before a single minute had passed.
The 44:13 was kicked in by senior forward Anna Williams (number 17), and at first seemed to have set the tone for the match.
But as time went on in the first half, TU seemed to struggle to mount any effective pressure on OBU, while OBU managed to get deeper and deeper into TU’s defenses.This rush to tie up the game, though paused by a 16:10 yellow card issued against OBU, resulted in the tying 11:23 goal by OBU sophomore Tori Kitchel.
With only ten minutes to halftime, TU seemed determined to get another goal — just as OBU was equally determined to run out the clock and keep the score tied. Ultimately, it was OBU’s stalling that beat out the Hurricane’s aggression and the second half started 1-1. The last 45 minutes of the game was even more intense then the first, with both teams playing considerable harder than the relatively lax first half. The tie was broken by the 26:53 goal by Freshman Aubrey Lechlider (number 26) and was met with a roar from the crowd and the bench.
This celebration was premature as OBU’s Tori Kitchel responded to the cheers with another goal of her own at 22:48. With only 20 minutes left on the clock, and the score tied 2-2 once again, both teams were desperate to close out the game.Yet it was TU’s own Liliana Fernandez who scored the final goal of the match at 11:26 setting the final score 3-2.
This goal was unique as Fernandez was playing midfield this game contrary to her usual defender position, a decision that paid off big.
As the rest of the game played out, both teams were extremely vocal about their plans; OBU’s bench yelled instructions to their players, and TU could be heard yelling such things as “We already won,” and “We don’t need to score.”
The Golden Hurricane took this advice to heart and managed to hold onto the position of the ball for the majority of the last ten minutes to run down the clock.
This TU victory was hard fought by an excellent team that I personally am excited to see more of. The Golden Hurricane goes off to play both Kansas City and Chicago State this weekend.