Box Score PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team took home its first road win of the season in well-earned fashion on Sunday afternoon, fighting through delays and rough weather conditions to earn a 1-0 victory over Prairie View A&M.
The adversity came right from the beginning of the day for the Islanders (2-2-2), as both them and the Panthers (0-5) were forced to stay in the locker room after a storm rolled through and pushed back the start of the match by more than an hour. Once things finally got underway, A&M-Corpus Christi got its offense revved up quickly, making up for lost time by living in Prairie View's defensive half throughout the majority of the game. In total, the Islanders outshot their opponents 17-3 in total and 5-0 in shots on target while taking nine corner kicks as opposed to just two on the other side.
Despite this constant offensive pressure, however, the visitors could not find the back of the net early on, getting held off the scoreboard for the entire first half and much of the second after the break. The big breakthrough in the game would not come until the 78
th minute, when on yet another run toward the goal, the Islanders were able to draw a foul in the box and earn an important penalty kick. The honors on the try were given to sophomore
Cilia Leal, who stepped up and buried her attempt to finally put A&M-Corpus Christi out in front, where it would stay for the remainder of the afternoon.
"I'm proud of the performance," head coach
Daniel Clitnovici said. "We started and ended on top, and that's the most important thing. We controlled the game for the duration; we just lacked the final product to find some more goals. We weren't clinical enough in front of goal and although we only scored once, we ultimately know it could and should have been several more."
The go-ahead goal was Leal's third of the season, already matching the amount that she scored over 20 games during her debut campaign in 2024. The score also marked the first penalty make of her career to date, and it was her second game-winner of the year, moving her into a tie with Northwestern State's Emily Senatore for the most in the Southland Conference so far.
On the other end, the Islanders got an incredible performance from their defense, shutting down the Panthers for their second clean sheet in their last three games while allowing their second-fewest shots in a match this year. This effort helped keeper
Hayven Harrison earn another shutout, making it two so far with the team after recording one during her four-year tenure with Kansas.
The Islanders will now wrap up their longest road trip of 2025 on Thursday at 7 p.m., making their last stop in Stephenville for a meeting with Tarleton State.
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