The Grambling Lady Tigers took to the field against the Howard Bison Sunday, Oct. 13 at home at the GSU Soccer Complex.
A win for the Tigers in this game would have pushed the team into the winning column for the third year in a down.
The Lady Tigers were coming off a 7-0 win against Alcorn State, and were looking took keep their two-game winning streak going.
Howard came into the game undefeated in conference play looking to keep their run going.
Between the two teams Howard had won the battle in the last two games against the Lady Tigers.
The whole game was extremely physical with Howard racking up 16 fouls and Grambling having 18.
In the first period Howard was able to strike with a header from Victoria Thorton assisted by Kendall Macauly.
After a scoreless half the Tigers went into halftime looking for some energy to come out and match Howards up pace tempo.
Winding down to the end of the second half, the Lady Tigers took their final pushes to score but came up short.
This loss put the teams overall record at 6-8-1 for the season.
Junior midfielder Sarah Teubner a new transfer student and Oregon native said the team played hard despite their struggles.
“We competed really well,” she said. “We outshot them 11-5 and had the ball more than they did, but they scored on their very first attempt at goal.
“I think our defense played incredible and really kept us in the game, but at the end of the day we need to score and that didn’t happen today.”
Teubner said the loss and should contribute to the team moving forward in conference play.
“It fuels us,” she said. “It shows us what we need to do to compete for the tournament title. We will have to play Howard to make it to the NCAA tournament and we will play with so much more fight next time.”
Going into the next game, Teubner stressed what the team will have to do to win.
“We definitely need to score,” she said.
“Our defense is really solid and our ideas are all there, but the only thing we really need to do is put the ball in the back of the net. We need to execute in the final third.”
The Tigers will face off against Jackson State next Friday, Oct 18 at 4 p.m. at the GSU Soccer Complex for Parents Weekend in search for a well needed win. The last matchup ended 4-0 in Grambling’s favor and the Lady Tigers are hoping to repeat that success.
With five more games left in conference play, they are hoping for a potential win that could put them in a good spot for the conference playoffs.