Houston women’s soccer celebrates their first Big 12 win of the season during their pink-out game on Oct. 13. | Emma Christensen/ The Cougar
After many weeks of heartbreak, the Cougars got a feel-good win on Sunday, Oct. 13, as they beat the Arizona Wildcats 1-0 at home to win their first Big 12 match since Oct. 8, 2023, and ending a nine-game losing streak of Big 12 matches.
Before the win, Houston soccer started the week experiencing a sickening 3-0 deficit in the early going, which caused them to walk away with their seventh consecutive loss.
A win at last
Houston’s match with Arizona was very intense, with both teams defending their goal.
The Cougars thought they broke the deadlock in the 34th minute when junior forward Cameryn Maddox hit a beautiful curling shot, only to hit the crossbar.
The Wildcats had their major opportunity in the 36th minute when they were awarded a penalty kick following a foul by Houston junior defender Jada Gibson inside the box.
Arizona senior midfielder Gina Christiansen took the shot, but Houston freshman goalkeeper Maggie Manning made a stunning save to keep the game tied heading into halftime.
In the second half, the teams remained tied until the 53rd minute, when Houston senior midfielder Alexis Fowlkes kicked a screamer of a shot from outside the box, which found the back of the net to give the Cougars the lead.
Despite Arizona piling on the pressure in the latter portions of the game, thanks to Manning’s heroics, Houston was able to hold on until the final whistle for the big win, in only her fifth start,
Manning had her best game to date, making a career-high nine saves, including saving her first penalty kick, to achieve her first clean sheet.
The seventh consecutive loss
The week did not start with the same Cougar heroics.
Houston soccer took on the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Thursday, Oct. 10 in Stillwater, Okla., for their seventh consecutive loss.
The Cowgirls had an early penalty kick, and junior midfielder Xcaret Pineda got past Manning to give them the three-to-nothing lead in the game’s 13th minute.
Sophomore midfielder Lauren Wilson found Senior wingback Alex Morris to start things off in the seventh minute.
A couple of minutes, later off of a turnover, sophomore forward Gracie Bindbeutel took it herself to get ahead of the pack and score in the ninth minute.
The Cougars would go down and get a shot off at the goal but were kept off the scoring board thanks to a diving save.
Both teams played with strong defense to keep the score the same going into the half.
The Cougars would continuously get shots off on the goal, putting up six more shots, two being at the goal, but they were denied on every attempt.
The first-half firepower proved to be all they needed as the Cowgirls went scoreless in the second half.
Houston will take their momentum to Salt Lake City, Utah, Thursday, Oct. 17, when they take on the Utah Utes.
