CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team walked away with its second consecutive draw on Thursday evening, jumping out ahead but conceding late to play to a tie with Texas Southern by a final of 1-1.
After giving up the first goal in each of their first two matches and having to earn their first point of the year on Sunday against New Mexico in comeback fashion, the Islanders (0-1-2) looked to get off to a faster start to Thursday's contest, putting the pressure on the Tigers (0-2-1) defense with a handful of scoring opportunities early. The best of these came in quick succession just seven minutes into things, when after a cross from freshman
Isabella Castellanos Lopes entered the box, three consecutive shots from sophomore
Cilia Leal, senior
Mai-Lisa Atis and freshman
MyJoi Anderson were all blocked, leading to a corner that saw Anderson get another try from outside the box that was sent just over the crossbar for a narrow miss. This would prove to be a precursor to the rest of the opening period, as A&M-Corpus Christi managed to outshoot Texas Southern 11-5 in the first 45 minutes and took four more corner kicks but still went into the break scoreless despite this.
After being unable to capitalize early, the Islanders finally broke through not long into the second half, getting set up with a penalty kick at the 56-minute mark after Atis made a run on a long outlet pass and was tripped up just inside of the box. The forward then stepped up for the attempt herself, sending it just off the fingertips of the Tigers keeper and through to put them ahead 1-0. Just a few minutes later, though, A&M-Corpus Christi found itself in a similar situation after Anderson was called for a handball inside the box, but redshirt senior keeper
Hayven Harrison came up clutch, sending the shot away on a dive to her right side to keep the team in the lead.
Now looking to preserve an advantage for the first time on the year, the Islanders looked to put things away in the 86
th minute, as redshirt senior
Madison Page got herself loose on the attacking end and put a volley into the back of the net for what appeared to be the team's second goal of the night. The referees ruled Page offsides however, and on the ensuing restart following the call, the Tigers marched down the field and took advantage of a miscommunication by a pair of A&M-Corpus Christi defenders inside the box to send home a goal of their own that leveled the score back up at one apiece. The hosts tried to respond to this in the waning minutes after earning a corner kick with less than two minutes to go, but their attempts proved to be fruitless, and they were handed their second straight tie as a result.
As the box score would indicate, the Islanders did threaten more than the Tigers on the night as a whole, attempting three more shots and putting two more on target while earning nine corner kicks as opposed to just five from the visitors. Atis' score proved to be all that they could muster off of their chances, though, with the goal representing the Miami native's first of the season and 13
th of her four-year career with the team.
A&M-Corpus Christi will now try again to earn their first win of the season over the weekend, hosting fellow system school Texas A&M-San Antonio in the final leg of their three-game homestand on Sunday at 7 p.m.
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