RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros women's soccer team played to a scoreless draw against the Grand Canyon University (GCU) Lopes in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) match Friday at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex behind a career effort from freshman keeper
Emma Lööv.
Lööv tallied a career-high nine saves for UTRGV (2-8-2, 0-3-2 WAC). GCU (4-5-2, 0-3-1 WAC) outshot the Vaqueros 30-2 and 11-0 with shots on goal and had 13 corners to UTRGV's zero but couldn't find a goal because of the defensive effort from Lööv and Co.
The Lopes outshot the Vaqueros 14-2 in the first half, including 6-0 with shots on goal. Lööv made four saves, sophomore defender
Libby Beilfuss came up with two huge stops and the collective defensive effort kept the Lopes off the board despite GCU dominating possession.
Beilfuss made a handful of defensive highlights with solid one-on-one defense and clutch moments in the box. In the 20
th minute, Beilfuss made two stellar stops on consecutive shots from the Lopes. GCU continued to apply offensive pressure and sent another good shot on goal in the 29
th minute, but Loov knocked it down and Beilfuss cleared away the rebound.
UTRGV's shots were taken in the first half by sophomore forward
Amy Hislop and senior midfielder/forward
Kalia Beckwith. Hislop's long, sharp shot hit the right post and Beckwith's header sailed high.
GCU continued to apply frequent offensive pressure through the second half, but the UTRGV defense continued to hold. Sophomore defender
Nadia Colon, freshman defender
Rosey Bjorgvinsdottir and countless other Vaqueros worked tirelessly on defense to keep the match scoreless.
The Vaqueros created some scoring chances in the final 20 minutes. Redshirt junior midfielder
Elina Seppälä, sophomore midfielder
Molly Reynosa and Colon orchestrated a solid attack that resulted in a shot from Colon sailing just a hair too high. Senior forward
Jeweleen Reuille also tried to fire up the offense. GCU dominated possession and kept UTRGV from generating consistent offense. Still, the Vaqueros came away with a point because of the excellent defensive play.
The Vaqueros are back at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex on Sunday for a 3 p.m. match against California Baptist to be played following UTRGV men's soccer's 12 p.m. contest against UNLV.
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