TCU Soccer 0, Wisconsin 0: Season Opens with a Draw

Welcome to the 2022 TCU Athletics season Frog fans! We survived the scorching desolate summer and have finally made it to the Fall season. The first event of the sports calendar would see Top-10 TCU Soccer take on Big Ten foe Wisconsin at Garvey-Rosenthal stadium. While the final result wasn’t ideal, many of the qualities that made the Frogs a near-unanimous preseason favorite in the Big 12 were on full display. TCU took to the attack right from kickoff and was swarming the box with chances throughout the first half while TCU Goalkeeper Lauren Kellett was a stone wall in front of net. However the one aspect where the Frogs have excelled the previous few seasons that wasn’t on display Thursday: finishing.

Even as Wisconsin was content to defend deep and attempt to push on counter attack, the Frogs offense generated consistent opportunities, working 13 corner kicks and 14 shots. Unfortunately only 3 of those shots were on target, none proving a major test for Badger keeper Erin McKinney. Perhaps TCU’s best chance of the night came in the tenth minute on a powerful low drive from Senior Gracie Brian that was snuffed out by McKinney.

The Badger chances were primarily the result of some slight Horned Frog misstep - most notably on a back pass towards the TCU goalie that resulted in a clean opportunity that Kellett eliminated.

TCU was forced to play out the final half hour of the game without its star defending midfielder Payton Crews due to a controversial red card. The Badgers launched a clearance ball towards midfield after a TCU free kick; chasing after it, Crews and Badger Freshman Forward Rylee Howard collided and Howard took a hard tumble. It could have been a foul and perhaps even a yellow card, but the straight red was a shock for such a common foul at midfield that wasn’t directly preventing a goal-scoring opportunity. Referee Brandon Marshall decided he was the main character of the evening’s proceedings, issuing 5 yellow cards in addition to the confounding red card.

Despite being down a player, the Frogs continued to push offensively, including a few corner kick opportunities that were genuine chances, while locking down defensively to keep the clean sheet.

The Frogs will be back in Garvey-Rosenthal on Sunday night at 7:00 PM to take on another B1G foe when the Minnesota Golden Gophers come to Fort Worth.