On the Pitch
Texas Tech soccer defeated Youngstown State, 4-1 behind 2 more goals from Taylor Zdrojewski, another goal from Payton Parsons and Sam Courtwright.
Head coach Tom Stone on the combination play of Zdrojewski and Parsons:
“It was special because once you break the other teams ‘front-three’ they tend to collapse everyone around the top of the box. And then when you get closer, they make it more and more compact. There are ways around it and if you want to get through it you need to combine. And they were finding each other with no-look passes and finding each other with give-and-goes. That’s textbook, how to breakdown a packed defense. Both of those two players have a high Soccer IQ. And then you must execute it, and your feet have to cooperate. They saw it and they executed it. Their feet were clean and tidy and both finishes were awesome. Peytons bending ball to the corner we do every Tuesday in split. And Peyton looked so calm to bend it around her. It was really a wonderful goal.”
The ladies will hit the road again and play No. 16 Santa Clara in Santa Clara on Thursday, August 21st, first-touch is at 9:30 p.m. and will be on ESPN+ and then play San Francisco on Sunday, August 24th.
On the Gridiron
SI’s Pat Forde with the 25 most intriguing college football non-quarterbacks and David Bailey makes the list:
Bailey is the face of the Red Raiders’ portal payroll push toward relevance, having been handsomely compensated to transfer to Tech from Stanford. The quarter system at Stanford allowed him to transfer into Tech midway through spring practice, which should mitigate on-field transition issues. (Going from Palo Alto, Calif., to Lubbock is another thing entirely off the field.) Bailey was fourth nationally in forced fumbles last season with five, and has totaled 14.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss in his three-year college career. He’s expected to immediately upgrade a pass rush that ranked in the bottom half of the Big 12 in sacks last year.
Inside the Red Raiders’ Jarrett Johnson with his list of most impactful players on defense.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly has his final preseason SP+ rankings and Texas Tech checks in at No. 29, right behind TCU.