TCU women’s soccer rolling with confidence going into Sweet 16 match vs. Georgetown
The TCU women’s soccer team responded. In just six minutes.
The 4-seeded Horned Frogs found themselves trailing 1-0 at halftime to New Mexico in their first match of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, but came out firing in the second half. They scored four goals in the first six minutes, turning a potential defeat into a 6-2 victory and Sweet 16 berth.
“We pulled together,” senior goalkeeper Emily Alvarado said. “We all got together and said, ‘We’re good to go.’ We have a lot of experience in those kind of moments. We knew we had to work a little bit harder and it all came together at the end.”
That second-half push with six goals now has TCU feeling confident about making a run. Next up is a Sweet 16 matchup against 13-seed Georgetown at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Cary, North Carolina.
The Hoyas will present a stiff challenge. This is a program that has become a perennial contender in recent years. GU is in the Sweet 16 for the third time in the last four years (2016, 2018, 2020) and reached the tournament’s Final Four in 2016 and 2018.
“Georgetown is a great team and super hard-working,” Alvarado said. “We’re going to have to go in and stick to our game plan. It’s definitely going to be a fight, but I think our girls are up to the challenge.”
TCU coach Eric Bell echoed those thoughts. He feels the team knocked off a little bit of rust on Friday night as it hadn’t played in almost two weeks.
Now it appears they’ve found their stride, particularly on the offensive end. TCU scored its first goal just 88 seconds into the second half, courtesy of Messiah Bright. Then Grace Collins scored the go-ahead goal less than a minute later and then another goal less than three minutes later.
Thirty-six seconds later, it was Payton Crews’ turn to put one in the back of the net. TCU added a couple more by Avery Barron and Maddy Warren.
“We have firepower,” Bell said. “We have players that score goals in different ways. Teams are going to have to respect that and plan for that and prepare for us being a little more dynamic. They can’t key on just certain players.”
If TCU advances, it would face the winner of Rice/Virginia on Sunday.
