TCU Soccer off to a hot start

Well last Saturday’s football game against Iowa State didn’t pan out the way we wanted... but alas, we have been gifted the opportunity to get revenge on the Cyclones, this time in the form of women’s soccer.

The 12th ranked Horned Frogs are off to a hot start this year, posting two clean sheets to open up the season including a 3-0 victory over the Texas Longhorns at home.

This is the first time since 2017 the Horned Frogs have begun conference play with back-to-back clean sheets, and boy does this team look to be in sync.

When speaking with the media, Coach Eric Bell praised his team’s chemistry as part of their recent defensive success.

“It starts with the front 6, they make it really hard on opposing teams to get anything going and the defenders reap the benefits,” said Bell. “It’s a collective effort from front to back and we are really on point with what we are trying to do defensively.”

After a 1-0-1 start, the Horned Frogs match scheduled for Friday, Sept. 25 against Kansas State was postponed due to COVID-19 complications.

The Frogs are making sure to not let this affect their rhythm and are utilizing the extra week of practice to better prepare for Iowa State. Coach Bell said the team went through last week just as any other game week, though instead of playing Kansas State, the Frogs ran an inter-squad scrimmage as if it were a game.

Although having a game postponed is always a bummer, the Horned Frogs received some good news this week: Junior forward Messiah Bright will be back in action on Friday against the Cyclones.

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“Hopefully we can take advantage of Messiah being back and have a different element to our game where we can stretch teams vertically as well,” said Bell.

The Cyclones are a team that likes to play the ball out the back and build up passes over time. Bell said a key to victory on Friday is to keep Iowa State under pressure on their end of the field in order to force turnovers and allow for quick counter-attacks from the team in white.

Speaking of the team in white… have you seen the kits the Horned Frogs will be rocking on Friday? They are clean as can be.

Even though the season is off to a positive start, the road to get here was not all peaches and cream. The Horned Frogs soccer team experienced an offseason like no other amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that universities are back up and running, the team has had mandatory COVID-19 testing 3 times a week as well as other protocols along the lines of social distancing.

Coach Bell spoke highly of his team stating they have done an excellent job of following all the COVID-19 protocols in place as frustrating as that can be.

The goal for the Horned Frogs this year is clear: Big 12 conference champions. In order to reach this goal, the team has been making sacrifices off the field to avoid any mishaps during their season.

For example, coach Bell shared that the team has been utilizing the big-screen video board in Garvey-Rosenthal stadium for film watching sessions while the players are sitting spread out on the field.

“We take everything week by week and focus on what we need to do in order to be able to play the games every week,” said Bell.

Friday’s game against Iowa State is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in front of a limited audience as the Horned Frogs look to continue their unbeaten start.