The Frogs came out firing early and often in Nacogdoches, posting their third shutout of the season with a 4-0 win over Stephen F. Austin Sunday afternoon. Freshman defender Tijana Djuricek tallied a pair of assists on two first-half goals and freshman forward Natalee Heiser found the back of the net twice to lead the team.
“We finally put together a complete 90 minutes,” TCU head coach Eric Bell said. “We took care of business against a team that is pretty good.”
TCU set the tone in the first half by building an early 2-0 lead in the first half. Djuricek’s magic touch from the corner proved fruitful for the Frogs as she assisted on both goals in the first half. In the 15th minute, Djuricek found a flying Karitas Tomasdottir who headed the ball for the first goal of the game and her third of the season. The assist served as Djuricek’s first career point.
Djuricek earned a corner kick for the Horned Frogs in the 37th minute. She attempted a long shot from midfield that deflected off of the Lumberjack’s goalie past the end line, setting up another corner kick. Another perfectly placed cross from Djuricek found Heiser to give the TCU a 2-0 lead.
“We talked a lot about the start of the game,” Bell said. “We wanted to start off well and tried to get the momentum, be aggressive and attack.”
Bell had nothing but praise for Djuricek following her strong play in the first half.
“We were getting lots of opportunities, but our services have been inconsistent,” Bell said. “We talked about it as a staff and decided to give Tijana a shot at it. She did fantastic. You need a good services to create scoring chances and she gave us that.”
The Lumberjacks began the second half with a strong push to try to cut the TCU lead in half, but the Horned Frogs withstood the pressure and put the game out of hand in the 56th minute. A shot from freshman defender Ariana Owens was saved, but Stephen F. Austin’s goalkeeper coughed up a rebound that was read perfectly by freshman midfielder Yazmeen Ryan and shot into the back of the net giving the Frogs a 3-0 lead.
Heiser earned her second career multi-goal game of the season in the 78th minute as she converted a feed from Owens. The feed from Owens was her first career point.
With the win, the Frogs concluded non-conference play with six wins and three losses.
The Horned Frogs will begin conference play next weekend, hosting the Kansas Jayhawks Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
