FORT WORTH, Texas – The Tigers surrendered a pair of second-half goals to TCU’s midfield duo of Michelle Prokof in the 52nd minute and Makenzie Koch in the 61st minute as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to the Horned Frogs in their first road match of the 2014 season held Friday night at TCU’s Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium in Fort Worth.
The Tigers (3-2) were unable to find the net on any of their 12 shot attempts and five shots on target over the 90 minutes as the Horned Frogs (2-3) improved to 2-1-1 in four meetings in the series.
Prokof broke the deadlock when she pounced on a loose ball just beyond the penalty area after an initial entry pass by teammate Allison Ganter was denied by the LSU back line. Prokof set herself and rifled a 25-yard strike into the top-left corner of the net just beyond the outstretched arms of LSU goalkeeper Lily Alfeld.
Koch doubled the lead of the home side on the hour when she poked home a free kick into the area with a right-footed effort from near the top of the six-yard box for her second goal of the season at the 60:03 mark. Koch’s finish left the Tigers chasing the game over the final 30 minutes, and they came close to a response that would have sent the match into extra time.
In the 69th minute, Natalia Gomez-Junco‘s whistling effort from 30 yards was narrowly tipped over the bar and out of play for a corner kick by Horned Frog goalkeeper Vittoria Arnold leaping high and to her right side. It was a set piece on which the Tigers nearly took advantage as Megan Lee picked out rookie defender Alexis Urch just beyond the six-yard box, but Urch’s header was fired just inches wide of the right post.
The Tigers combined for another opportunity just four minutes from time with Emma Fletcher leading the attack in midfield. Fletcher played the ball through to striker Jorian Baucom sprinting free in the left side of the area, who then fired a low cross into space through the six-yard box. Lee came up just short of redirecting Baucom’s cross into the back of the net on a sliding effort as the ball zipped through and out for a goal kick.
The Tigers were unable to threaten the TCU goal over the final four minutes of the match as they went down to defeat by a score of 2-0 against their Big 12 Conference opponents in Fort Worth.
Alfeld kept the Tigers in the game with an outstanding performance in the first half in which she made five saves in the opening 45 minutes, most notably a diving stop on a breakaway by striker Emma Heckendorn that was deflected around the left post and out of play for a Horned Frog corner kick.
Fletcher came within inches of giving the Tigers a lead in the final minute of the first half when her chipped effort from the right side of the area evaded Arnold’s reach, but just missed finding the top-left corner of the net as the final seconds ticked away. The sides played an even first 45 minutes as they went into the locker room scoreless at the break.
With their first road trip of the 2014 season now in the books, the Tigers return to action on Monday night when they welcome the Stephen F. Austin Lady ‘Jacks to Baton Rouge for a Monday Night Futbol match that is set to kick off at 6 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium. Monday is Hispanic Heritage Night at the LSU Soccer Stadium as the program celebrates the rich tradition of the sport in the Latin community.