GOALS GALORE

Bobcats continue offensive hot streak against Central Arkansas, UNT on tap

Texas State’s hot streak continued, as the Bobcats scored five goals from five different players, in a 5-1 win over Central Arkansas.

With kickoff at a temperature of 103 F, the Bobcats not only battled their opponents but the heat, as well.

“We always talk about in practice, five seconds of focus,” sophomore midfielder/forward Alexis Neal said. “With the heat today, we really had to focus on that.”

But the Bobcats were already adjusted to the blistering heat due to their practice schedule.

“We are always practicing around this time,” senior forward Olivia Wright said. “That has really helped us with games like today.”

Knowing that the Bobcats were going to play in the sweltering heat, Head Coach Steven Holeman had the team prepared.

“We have been going at it for two and a half weeks now,” Holeman said. “We have had both morning and evening sessions, as well as a couple in the middle of the day. … It’s been triple digits for a while now, so our girls have acclimated to it and having depth helps as well.”

Texas State’s depth has been key for the past two games, which has seen seven different players score a goal this season.

With the added depth and the ability to switch players, the Bobcats have been reaping the success.

“The good news is that we have a lot of players contributing to the offense in our attack,” Holeman said. “We had five different goal scorers today, with seven of the eight coming from different players. With this heat, we have to rotate players in and out, but we have done a pretty good job at keeping the level of play pretty high.”

Scoring the opening goal in the 19th minute, Wright was able to score off of the crossing pass from Lucy Hart, as the ball floated over the goalie’s head and into the corner net, which put the Bobcats up early.

“Lucy got a good ball in,” Wright said. “I saw the player coming in and just flicked it in, after seeing the open net.”

Staying aggressive on the offensive end, Neal extended the lead for the Bobcats, scoring a near 20-yard goal, that rocketed past the defender.

“I saw that the goalie wasn’t on her line that much,” Neal said. “I knew that I could get it over her and dip it in.”

The Bobcats ability to stay aggressive on offense, while finding their teammates, was an early key for Texas State’s advantage over the Bears, “Just connecting passes,” Wright said. “We were looking for each other and we had some really good balls coming in. We just want to attack and score goals.”

Texas State stayed aggressive in the second half, as freshman Victoria Meza scored her first career goal for the Bobcats in the 51st minute.

Junior Zoe Junior added her second goal of the season, scoring on a header in the 56th minute following the crossing pass from Bailey Peschel, as the Bobcats took a commanding 4-0 lead.

Despite Central Arkansas scoring in the 69th minute, Texas State added one more goal as Halle Gracia scored in the deflection.

With the Bobcats using different players on offense, Texas State hopes the diverse scoring attack will put the opposing defense in a bind.

“It takes the burden off of one person,” Holeman said. “From a scouting standpoint, you can’t just focus on just one person. We have goals coming from our midfielders, forwards and off the bench. It’s been really good so far.”

With the Bobcats hosting North Texas on Thursday, Texas State now looks to take their offensive strategy against one of the top mid-majors in the state.

“We have been focusing on finishing on all of our opportunities that are given to us,” Neal said. “Just putting those goals away.”

North Texas comes into the game with an 2-0 record, with wins over UNLV (3-0) and Northwestern State (3-0).

The Bobcats host the Mean Green Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bobcat Soccer Complex.

coltonbmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc